Tears
by ckret2
Summary: After giving his life to help Sora, Axel is saved by a Soldier Heartless, his other half. With no other goal, Axel and Soldier search for Roxas with the help of several odd allies. But even if Axel finds Roxas, what good is it if he still can't feel?
1. Rebirth x Dust To Dust

Hah! After months of work, I can finally start posting! I'm writing ahead and while I'm nowhere near finished with the fic, I've got several chapters just about ready to go. I was originally going to finish the entire fic first and then start posting, but if I did that KH3 would be out before this thing was online. Besides, I figured I'd write faster if there were people waiting for an update.

Just so you know ahead of time, this will be a massive crossover fic, though I'm only using Final Fantasy and Disney stuff. Starting in Chapter 2 there'll be several Advent Children characters that aren't currently in KH, and a few chapters after that will be Cinderella.

Whenever a new movie/game/whatever is introduced I'll provide links with info for the people that aren't familiar with the canon. I'll also describe the new characters as the story goes along, so if you don't know the characters but don't want to read the links you can just pretend they're original characters or something. **EDIT:** My site with the links went down. Henceforth, I'll just briefly describe new characters in the author notes. No long bios or anything, but you won't be left ignorant!

Disclaimer: None of the characters here are mine; they are all property of Square Enix/Disney. I guess I have partial rights to Soldier since it's technically an original character, but all Heartless look alike so what's the difference? I own the plot and the story as well.

xxxxx

Prologue

rebirth

x

The first thing Axel noticed was warmth. It was the only thing, really, that he could notice. He heard, saw, and felt nothing, except warmth. It was an odd sensation, but a welcome one.

Especially since he was pretty sure he'd just died back there. As far as he knew, the dead didn't feel warm.

Which brought up the fact that the dead didn't feel, well, anything. And by now Axel was definitely starting to feel something, like a breeze. He could feel air going in and out of his mouth, and his chest rising up and down. He couldn't feel the ground, but he could clench his hand into a fist and feel his fingers and glove. Axel was most definitely alive, and though he could feel his own weight but not the ground, he was probably in the realm of darkness. He hoped he wouldn't have to spend his great luck saving Sora again. He really had no affection for the rest of Roxas's personality, so far as a Nobody felt affection.

That brought up another point; Nobodies usually didn't feel warmth any better than the dead. Temperature warmth, sure, but not this feel-good, glowing warmth. Axel usually felt like this only when he was around Roxas. And they'd both had a good day. And the rest of Organization XIII was at least acting cheerful, wherever they were. And Axel and Roxas were alone. And Axel had a bag of chips. Cheesy chips.

Axel wondered if the rest of him knew something his brain didn't. He sure didn't think he'd had a good day, and he absolutely knew he didn't have any chips.

Axel opened his eyes.

Staring down at him was a horde of Heartless.

Axel leaped to his feet. His chakrams appeared in his hands, but he didn't have the energy to use them after saving Sora's sorry butt. The Heartless hopped, floated, and jumped backwards to form a small ring around Axel. The Heartless and Axel watched each other warily, but no one attacked.

As long as no one was moving, Axel decided he'd better see what he was up against. There were fifteen or so Shadows. In the realm of Darkness, Axel couldn't see their outlines clearly. He was pretty sure from the height of some of them that a few were the bigger Shadows – Neon Shadows or something? Axel didn't keep track of all the Heartless very well. He could never remember their names. There were also six or seven of the floating mage red Heartless. Something Jazz. They and Axel both used fire magic exclusively, so they couldn't do much damage to each other.

But there were also two child-height ones, Soldiers or Warriors. Axel focused on one of the two. He'd been told that Heartless had no ability to think, but this one seemed to be capable of concentration. At least, it was staring at Axel with a kind of determination while the other Heartless continued their restless fidgeting. It was the first Heartless Axel had ever seen hold still that wasn't dying.

One of the Shadows seemed to get tired of waiting, or forgot that it was supposed to. It lunged at Axel, flailing wildly. It would have looked funny if Axel hadn't been caught completely drained of energy. But before he could move, the armored Heartless he'd noticed jumped to his defense.

It was an odd defense. The taller Heartless (it was definitely a Soldier, Axel remembered) engaged the Shadow desperately, as if it had been the one attacked and was defending itself. Did Heartless usually fight each other like this? In fact, did they fight each other at all?

The Shadows were scared away quickly. The mages and the second Soldier lost interest once the Shadows left and meandered off into the darkness.

Now, there was only Axel and the first Soldier, his defender. And that warmth. Where was it coming from? And why had the Soldier decided to protect him?

Based on what he'd seen so far, Axel didn't think this Heartless would attack him, so he sat down to study it. It followed suit. But it was pretty easy to tell that there wasn't anything out of the ordinary with this Heartless, and it probably thought Axel was pretty normal looking. If Heartless could think, at least. Could they? Thinking in circles like this was getting him nowhere, but wasn't nowhere exactly where a Nobody belonged?

So. Axel knew that he was somehow alive. He was also in the realm of darkness, but apparently in Heartless territory. Either that or the Heartless had wandered into Nobody territory; darkness couldn't really be divided up into zones, so perhaps it was a moot point anyway. In any case, the Heartless hadn't attacked in force yet so they must not have seen him as a threat. Maybe Heartless only attacked when ordered, or if there was a heart to be stolen for their efforts? Axel knew virtually nothing about Heartless, he realized.

"Did you save me?" Axel finally asked the Soldier. It was the first sound he'd heard since regaining consciousness, but it didn't seem to make an impact on the silence. Not that it was drowned in silence, it just sounded casual. Like another voice joining in a hubbub of conversation. It was odd, just like the warmth.

The Heartless studied Axel contemplatively, appeared to think over the question, and finally blinked once in an utterly bewildered way.

"You're not much of a talker," Axel chuckled, and was surprised to find he was almost amused, not in the hollow way Nobodies usually felt emotion.

The amusement, the warmth, the odd state of the silence… Axel could almost remember when he had last had these things. It was like not being alone, but it was something else, too. It was like being somebody again, Somebody with a capital S.

And it was the Soldier that was causing this, Axel knew it. He remembered being told by Xemnas that when a Heartless was created, so was a Nobody. There was always a pair. Was it possible for a Nobody to recognize his Heartless? After all, hadn't Roxas done it?

What were the odds?

"Hey, who are you, anyway?" Axel reached out tentatively to touch the Soldier, but stopped. It reached back and grabbed his hand.

A jolt of recognition shot across their arms. They were one.

The Heartless was the other half of Axel, and the Nobody was the other half of Soldier. Soldier had hunted down its other half, and in that moment life became quite a bit easier for both of them.

Building Kingdom Hearts was trivial. Xemnas could harvest Heartless as long as he wanted, and it wouldn't change a thing. Axel had his heart again, and Soldier had its mind and the memory of its body back. Kingdom Hearts couldn't do anything more.

Axel and Soldier were still separate, but they were almost a human.

Axel suddenly became aware of the fact that he was, of all things, hugging his Heartless, and its arms were around his neck in return. They were clinging together like they'd grabbed a lifesaver. Axel grabbed Soldier and held it out at arm's length. He still had some dignity, after all.

Soldier, dangling in Axel's grip (it was amazingly light), squirmed and spoke; "Hunger." It wasn't a word exactly, but a mental sense of want that Axel could hear. Well, why not? Maybe Heartless could talk to their Nobodies like that. Axel already knew he didn't know anything about Heartless. It was possible.

The Heartless shifted again to glance up at Axel with pleading eyes. It wanted to steal a fresh heart.

"Fine, let's find some place for you to eat," Axel said. He stood up, carrying his Heartless like a child. It was about time they got out of here, anyway. He wasn't quite sure how long they had sat, since there was really no time in the realm of darkness, but he had an odd sense that something had shifted within it. Something big had changed, and he wanted to see what.

Axel shifted Soldier to his left arm and used the other arm to lift aside the darkness and reveal the castle of The World That Never Was. He stepped through the door he had made, thinking about how he could convince Xemnas to let him keep Soldier. Maybe Organization XIII could train the Heartless to guard the castle or something. In any case, he'd only stay with the Organization long enough to learn how to recombine with his other half. Xemnas had undoubtedly figured out how to do that years ago, the creep. Axel could pry the info out of him and be gone.

And while he was at the castle, he could grab a bag of chips and make this a real party.

xxxxx

Chapter I

dust to dust

x

Two Dusks glanced up as reality was pulled away and a door to darkness was revealed. It was a Nobody form of transportation, so they didn't watch it with any trepidation. Sure enough, a Nobody from the Organization, number VIII, came through, but he was carrying a Heartless. They rose to their feet, ready to attack, but VIII waved them off. "It's with me. Don't worry."

They accepted this and turned to slink down the hall again, but VIII said, "Wait." The Dusks turned and stood patiently.

"Do you know where the superior is?" VIII asked.

They glanced at each other. Xemnas had disappeared a few days ago and hadn't reappeared. He was probably dead. So they indicated no answer.

"What about Xigbar?" No answer. "Saïx?" No answer.

VIII stood uncertainly for a moment. "Did Sora come here?"

They both nodded.

"Did Sora fight?"

Nod.

"So, everyone else… are they all… dead?"

Nod.

"Well…" A sigh. "That's it. Go do whatever you were doing."

The Dusks quickly slinked away. Heartless were running wild through the castle without the Organization to keep them out, and the lesser Nobodies were battling them all over the place. These two certainly did not want to be left out of the action.

Axel watched the two Dusks go. "What kind of condition do you think the rest of this dump is in?" he asked Soldier. Soldier didn't respond; it let Axel do the thinking.

Axel wandered through the Castle for over three hours. Heartless and Nobodies roved through the abandoned passageways and chambers, as confused by their own presence as they were by each other's. The Heartless were scared by the strange place, where beings without hearts to steal attacked them. The Nobodies were desperate for some order, a command that they could obey.

The castle itself was already falling apart. Walls were dented, scratched, and had large chunks blown out of them. The lights had failed completely in most parts of the castle, so Axel had to navigate by his own firelight.

Most disturbing was that parts of the castle had simply disappeared. Walls would have vanished, revealing the room behind it, or simply revealing nothing at all when there should have been another chamber. There should at least have been the outside sky, but there was nothing. Walls or doors appeared where there hadn't been any before, and when Axel opened the doors he found that past them there was nothing. His room was intact, but the windows revealed nothing. Roxas's room was already gone. Axel didn't bother to check the other rooms.

Once, when he reached a passageway that dead-ended in nothingness (it had been a full hallway earlier, Axel was sure), Axel stuck his hand out just to see what happened. He touched the realm of darkness and pulled his hand back. So, this castle was returning to oblivion. A second Castle Oblivion, then. How appropriate. Soon, it would be absolutely nothing and exist nowhere. That wasn't really a change from existing within a place that didn't. Axel wouldn't miss it.

He stepped into the darkness and turned to find no trace of the castle. Well, that was fine. He wasn't going back.

Soldier looked over Axel's shoulder at the place where the castle had once stood, and said, "Gone; why? Home…"

Home? Soldier had never lived in The World That Never Was, why would it say that? Axel realized that Soldier was reflecting the emotions he would have had as a whole person, and then he felt it too; a sickening ache in his stomach and chest, the beginnings of a homesickness that would never be cured without a home to return to.

"Let's go get some food, okay?" Axel said, and pulled reality aside to step through. He had been wrong. Nobodies couldn't miss anything, but Axel was a bit more than a Nobody now. Maybe, in some hollow way, he'd miss that stupid floating high-rise after all.

Axel left the darkness and was met with a cold breeze and naked sunlight. He was in a wide, cobalt blue canyon. In front of him was a city, and behind him a familiar fortress.

"Radiant Garden," he said.

"Hollow Bastion!" Soldier trilled, jumping out of Axel's arms to do a jittery dance. "Other home!"

x 

"Look here. These tears are weird, don't you think?" a voice said softly, Whisper.

"This is the first time you've spoken in a while." The man Whisper was speaking to, Dissolve, walked behind her and studied the largest computer monitor over her shoulder. White lines of a coordinate grid covered the blue screen, with tears and puckers forming and smoothing in the lines. The comings and goings in the realm of darkness; tears were where Nobodies opened reality to enter or leave the realm, puckers where Heartless pulled some of the realm out with them when they left, like a drop of water falling from its source. Dissolve frowned. There were thousands of rippling tears and puckers. "Which ones?"

"These jagged ones." A pale finger tapped one of them. "There were several today."

Dissolve let out a melodramatic groan. The wide sleeves of his jacket rasped together as he crossed his arms. "There have always been those tears. They haven't changed."

"Exactly," Whisper said. "But Organization XIII is the only kind of Nobody that makes them. So they must still be active, right? If they were all dead…"

Dissolve's disgust evaporated. "Those tears wouldn't be present… Then this… this is fantastic. Magnificent! _Perfect!_ Someone from the Organization survived. Heck, maybe they all made it through. That's… that's just…"

"Amazing." Whisper studied the tears with pale eyes.

"Precisely. We couldn't have asked for anything better."

A child in the corner behind Whisper and Dissolve stirred and opened his golden eyes. "How soon can we kill them?"

"As soon as you can track them down," Whisper said.

Squinting, Proxy peered across the room at the computer. He ran through his personal knowledge of the realm of darkness and shook his head. "There's only one member going in and out, and right now he's not on a world where I can touch him." He swore. "He was in the realm of darkness and the Organization's world for days, until a moment ago…"

"He'll probably use the darkness for transportation, like the rest of Organization XIII," Whisper said. "He won't stay in darkness long enough for us to reach him."

"You can steer him to a world where we can kill him, though," Dissolve said.

"I can," Proxy nodded and his golden eyes closed. "Wake me up the next time he's in the realm of darkness for more than a few seconds, and quickly. I want to hit his weakness."

"Which is…?" Dissolve trailed off, putting his hands on his hips. His jacket was baggy enough that his appearance barely changed.

"It's a Heartless." A chuckle. "Look at those puckers in the darkness around him. He's traveling with a Heartless, and it's a weak one. It'll be easy to kill."

Whisper nodded. "I see. And then you can kill the Organization member?"

"In five minutes," Proxy said.

"Of course," Dissolve said. "You are one of the lucky victims of the Organization's malice. You received their cursed blessings, and are stronger for it. But we do not know the price yet for your—"

"Cut the monologue," Proxy said. "Hey, you can keep monitoring the realm, right?"

"Yes," Whisper said.

"Good," Proxy said, and shut his eyes. "We'll get him in no time. Just wait."

xxxxx

So, that's it for the prologue and chapter 1. Axel hasn't started on his quest yet, but that's coming next chapter!

I'd also like to mention that Whisper, Dissolve, and Proxy aren't original characters. They all appear in KH. Right now, they're going by aliases. We'll find out why eventually. Until then, try to figure out who they are!

Please review! Praise makes me squee, concrit makes me improve, and flames make me laugh. Let me know what you think!


	2. Advent x Femme Fatale

Here's chapter two! There are several new characters, and as promised, here are links to bios for those that don't know about them. Unfortunately, FFnet strips several bits of punctuation that are kinda necessary for links, so I've got all the links on a different site for ease. Just copy/paste the link below, take out the spaces, and replace the – with the little squiggly line you make by holding shift-key and pressing the key above the tab-key. (FFnet strips those from text. Woohoo.)

free . hostultra . com / – ckret2 / tears / chapter2 . html

There are bios and pics for Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz, Marlene, and Denzel. I don't know how many people here haven't seen Advent Children, but here's some references for those that haven't.

Disclaimer: All KH characters still belong to Square Enix/Disney. Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz, Marlene, and Denzel are all Square Enix property from the movie Advent Children.

xxxxx

Chapter II

Advent // Femme Fatale

x

"Cloud, this is Tifa. You said you'd come home early to help with Marlene and Denzel, remember? I'm at the bar, and I could really use some help. ... Cloud? Hey, I know you're there. Pick up your cell phone! ... Okay, fine, just get your butt over here. Leon's getting tired of baby-sitting."

Tifa winked at Leon as she talked on the phone. He scowled back as Marlene insisted he pick up his imaginary teacup.

Tifa laughed. "Cloud, I don't think Leon will ever talk to you again at this rate. Just keep that in mind. The bar closed twenty minutes ago, and I'll give you twenty more minutes to get here." She hung up and started working on the dirty dishes. Cloud should have been helping with that, too.

"He'd better show up soon," Leon muttered.

"He's better at playing tea," Marlene agreed. She glanced at her adoptive brother. "Denzel, don't you want to play?"

Tifa glanced up from the glass she was cleaning. Denzel was standing at the window.

"I think that guy's in trouble," Denzel said, watching something outside.

Marlene ran up to the window beside him and watched along. After a moment, she turned to Tifa. "Why would the security system attack a human?"

Tifa and Leon joined the children to watch.

x 

Axel was running in a blind panic, his Heartless clinging to his back. They were being attacked by an enemy neither of them could fight. It was made of pure energy, a small circle that slid under them and shot upwards. It hit like a sonic boom up the spine. Hurt like crazy and there was no defense except running.

Axel's Heartless tightened its arms around his neck and braced. Getting the hint, Axel dived to one side. A pillar of energy burst upwards, just barely missing them. Axel regained his balance and kept running.

Up ahead were a few buildings, the outer limits of Radiant Garden. Maybe Axel could find help there.

There wasn't much room to dodge the energy shooters. The buildings were at the top of a narrow canyon that sloped upwards to meet them. It would be an easy slope to scale, assuming Axel made it that far.

Axel felt Soldier twist its head to look backwards. Axel didn't need to turn to know what was there.

"Human – fast – motorcycle, sword. At us... nice?" Heartless had their own way of communicating, directly relating half-thoughts and fidgety phrases to each other's minds. Axel's presence gave Soldier enough intellect to focus its thoughts into a form he could understand. It was a two-way exchange. Soldier gave Axel a hint of a heart, and Axel gave Soldier a hint of a mind.

"I hope so," Axel muttered, and his chakrams appeared. They could hurt a human, at least.

Soldier heard the engine first, Axel soon after. It pulled up beside them and slowed down.

"Give me your hand!" the driver shouted, stretching an arm out to Axel. Ignoring it, Axel grabbed the back of the motorcycle and pulled himself on.

"Go!"

The blond driver gunned the engine and took off, leaving the circles of light far behind.

x 

Tifa opened the bar door for Cloud, just in time for his red-haired passenger to run inside and take refuge behind the farthest table. Tifa barely glanced at him.

"What was that all about?" Tifa asked.

"I don't know. I saw the security system running, and then saw him." Cloud gestured to the stranger. "He looked like he was in trouble. I guess the Heartless were after him."

"That was what they were, huh? Weird Heartless," the stranger muttered. "I didn't know they slide around on the ground and shoot you up the spine like that. What's the species?"

There was an awkward silence. "That's the security system," Leon said. "It kills Heartless."

"Really?" The stranger tilted his head back. "Does it attack Soldier Heartless?"

"It should..."

"Marlene!" Cloud bolted across the room, pulling Marlene back and drawing his sword. The stranger skipped backwards and summoned two spiked red chakrams, standing defensively in front of something that looked like a child. Tifa walked closer and stopped, not wanting to get too close and crowd Cloud if he needed to fight. That wasn't a child.

"A Heartless!" Cloud said. Before he could attack, it climbed up the stranger's trench coat and hid in its arms. Cloud scowled. "You brought it in here?"

"It's mine!" the stranger shouted. He blinked, coughed, and said, "It's uh, trained. You know, like a pet? I own it."

"You can train Heartless?" Leon asked, crossing his arms. "Have you trained any others?"

"Well, uh..." The stranger winced. "I got lucky with this one. But it's harmless! Look." He put the Heartless down in front of Denzel, who had crept up beside them, before Cloud could protest. Denzel flinched, but tentatively reached out to touch the Heartless's helmet. In return the Heartless mussed Denzel's hair. Denzel giggled, swatting at the Heartless's hand.

Tifa frowned, studying the stranger. He didn't look like the master of a monster, or even a pet owner. He was smiling at "his" Heartless the way she had seen Cloud smile when he watched Denzel and Marlene playing.

"What's your name?" Tifa asked.

"Axel," the stranger said. "You?"

"I'm Tifa," she said. "The kids are Denzel and Marlene, he's Leon, and the guy who saved you is Cloud." Tifa gestured to each in turn.

Axel nodded, obviously memorizing the names but not truly caring. "Hey, is there any place I can stay without getting shot at?"

"It's your Heartless getting shot at," Leon said.

"Still hurts like the devil."

Cloud shot Tifa a glance, and she nodded, eyebrows raised. Humans weren't supposed to be affected by the security system if it was running properly.

"It'll activate as soon as you leave the building if you've got that Heartless with you," Tifa said. "We've got a spare room; you can stay here for a while."

"Nice." Axel smiled, and the Heartless left Denzel to be carried by its owner again. "So where is it, upstairs?"

"Uh, yes, and down the hall. Third door on the left."

Axel nodded. "Then we'll be settling in." He headed upstairs. Denzel and Marlene tried to follow, but were held back by Cloud.

"He could've at least said 'thanks'," Tifa grumbled.

"There's something wrong with him," Cloud said.

"Maybe, but he doesn't seem too bad," Leon said with a shrug, standing up. Now that he didn't have to baby-sit, he was ready to leave. "The security system could be acting up again. I can ask Tron."

"It's not that," Cloud said. "He road all the way here on the back of my motorcycle."

Leon paused with his hand on the doorknob, and Tifa tilted her head at Cloud. Evidently, he thought this was important, though they couldn't imagine why.

"The engine's in the back of the motorcycle," Cloud said, "and I'd been driving all day. The engine gets so hot that you burn yourself if you put your hand on it just a few seconds. He sat on it for about three minutes. He should need a Max-Potion by now, but I don't think he even noticed."

"Really..." Leon thought a moment, then addressed Tifa. "Do you want me to see if I can get Tron to spy on him? I haven't seen him around Radiant Garden before. If he's from another world, then that's probably the only way we'll find out about him."

Tifa frowned. She regretted inviting Axel to stay without knowing enough about him, but now he was her guest. She couldn't spy on a guest. "See if you can find any records on him," she finally said. "But no more."

Leon shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said, and left.

Tifa hoped she wouldn't regret this.

x 

Axel sat heavily on his bed. It was late evening, and he was getting ready for bed. He'd had dinner with the happy family housing him, and the food was great but the conversation wasn't.

Of course, Axel was fine with this. At Castle Oblivion and in The World That Never Was, he never had a good meal or conversation. This was a definite improvement.

"I don't think you made a good first impression," Axel said, unzipping his coat. "I guess that's not your fault."

Not bothered by this in the slightest, Soldier proceeded to strip in imitation of Axel.

Axel had gotten his white t-shirt off before he noticed this. "Oh no you don't! Either I get to sleep naked or you do, but not both of us. That would be creepy."

The Heartless cocked its head. "Half?"

They were each half of a whole. Still, sharing a bed with a Heartless was way too bizarre for Axel. Even if they were technically the same person.

"No. Either keep it on or sleep on the floor. I don't go for homoerotic stuff."

"Heartless: girl – all."

Axel arched his eyebrows. "Really? So what, I'm half-girl?"

"Also, boy Nobodies."

Axel was glad he'd never been interested in Larxene.

Soldier heard the thought and tried to elaborate. "No – girl half, Heartless, boy half, Nobody. You, boy, me... boy as... girl?" It – she? – gave up, unable to explain properly.

Although Soldier was hopeless at explaining in words, the sentence was accompanied by several helpful mental illustrations. Soldier meant that Nobodies and Heartless weren't literally either boy or girl. The part of their personality that was more masculine ended up in the Nobody and the more feminine part ended up in the Heartless. That might be useful information in the future.

"Well, I'm not sleeping with a naked girl Heartless either. Put something on or you sleep on the floor."

Soldier gave in and began dressing again. It – no, she, Axel had to remember that – knew Axel was the brains of their group and was willing to let it be. Besides, she figured Axel had reasons for what he did. For example, what would their hosts think if they barged in the next morning and saw them? It would certainly look odd.

What did the hosts think? Axel turned to Soldier and said, "Don't put all that armor back on yet. You need to do some stealth work. How good a spy are you?"

Soldier leaned forward eagerly. "Very."

x

On the outskirts of Radiant Garden, there was rarely any activity. Most of the Heartless that used to lurk there were long gone. A force deep in the world occasionally pulled a few out of the darkness, but that force was growing weak and its avatars had long since fallen down in their duty to protect it.

Not that they weren't trying, though. The force's avatars weren't really Nobodies and weren't really Heartless, but nonetheless they lacked humanity. Without the dark beacon of the force beneath Radiant Garden to guide them safely from the light, they would dissolve in it like shadows in the dawn.

This night, the three strongest avatars rode through the outskirts of Radiant Garden, disturbing the silence with the sounds of motorcycle engines. They were searching for a way to save the force they called Mother. At last, they found it.

The leader of the three stopped his motorcycle and sat upright, cocking his head. He almost seemed to be listening to the night. His two followers, his brothers stopped behind him.

"What is it, Kadaj?" one asked. He ran his fingers through his long, silver hair, the same color as his brothers', trying to untangle the knots blown into it by the wind.

Kadaj turned to regard look at his brothers. Thin, shoulder-length hair hung in his face, hiding the ghost of a smile. "Don't you feel it, Yazoo?"

Yazoo looked thoughtful. "Darkness. There's a higher concentration here."

"Right," Kadaj said. He glanced at his other brother. "What do you think, Loz?"

"It's not Mother," he said. He was the largest of the three brothers, with his hair cut short, but his deep voice barely made a sound. "Was it a Nobody?"

"That's what I thought," Kadaj said. He turned back around to look at the air as if he could see it. "A very strong Nobody used the realm of darkness here. And the tear it created is still here."

Yazoo got off his motorcycle. "So we should be able to use it."

"Right again," Kadaj said. He and Loz also got off, and the three walked closer to the point the darkness emanated from. "Finally. We can leave this pitiful world, and find a source of darkness Mother can use to regain her former glory."

"Or we could find Sephiroth," Yazoo said.

"Our brother is dead, Yazoo," Kadaj said idly. They'd had this argument before, so often that not even Loz bothered to join in.

"Shall we?" Loz said. He cracked his knuckles. "This is going to be fun."

Yazoo and Kadaj watched as Loz swung his fist forward in thin air. He suddenly hit a barrier, which ripped, revealing a narrow portal into darkness. They had been seeking one like this for months, since Sephiroth and Cloud had disappeared in the middle of battle. Only Cloud had come back.

Kadaj slipped through first, followed by Yazoo, and at last Loz. Before the portal closed again, Loz turned around to shout through, "Don't worry, Mother! We'll be back soon to help you, we promise." And then they were sealed away from Radiant Garden.

Deep beneath the surface of the world, locked in the dark, closed-off chambers beneath the Hollow Bastion, the dark force Jenova didn't answer and didn't care.

xxxxx

There's chapter 2. Axel is sending his Heartless to spy on his hosts, Soldier is apparently a girl, and Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz only showed up long enough to disappear and won't come back for over least twenty chapters. If you like them, please have patience! They'll return soon enough!

For those that might be wondering (since there are some odd people out there, and a couple of friends thought this might be a problem): No, I wasn't trying to hint at any romance in this chapter. Romance with a Heartless would be very, very weird. So, rest assured, Soldier is, was, and always will be, completely relationship-free. (... I can't believe I actually had to type that. Sigh.)

Please review! Remember, reviews are a writer's food: praise is food for the ego, concrit is food for the intellect, and flames are food for the sense of humor.


	3. Advent x Fading To White

Heh, took a bit longer than expected to get this posted! Anyway, here it is at last. Enjoy! 

Unfortunately, the page from chapter 2 where I had all the bios has been deleted. Sorry! There are no new characters this chapter, anyway, so you don't need the page. I'll try to find a way to repost the page and make sure it doesn't go down again. If that doesn't work, I guess you could search for the characters on Wiki? Sorry for the inconvenience.

Disclaimer: I own no one. Including Proxy, Dissolve, and Whisper, who are canon KH characters. (Someone thought they were OCs in chapter one. They aren't!)

xxxxx   
Chapter III   
Advent // Fading To White   
x 

"I don't think we should risk it," Cloud said. "He's got some kind of odd powers, he associates himself with Heartless, and he even dresses the same as Sephiroth's brothers. Why would we keep him around?"

"You can't condemn him because of his clothing," Tifa protested. "We've had people come through here with weird powers before."

These were the first words Axel's Heartless heard when she appeared. Soldier had come out of the realm of darkness between two beds, but luckily, one was unoccupied and the person sitting on the other, Tifa, wasn't paying attention. Cloud was standing near her and they were both staring out the window.

Soldier craned her head to see what they were looking at, and was thrilled to see Ansem's castle. Hollow Bastion, first home of all Heartless! She bounced happily, and then remembered that she was supposed to be quiet.

"Most of them were bad news," Cloud said, sitting down beside Tifa. "You remember Kadaj's gang. They ran off after I defeated Sephiroth, and we still don't know what happened to them. They're still out there somewhere."

"Well, remember Sora?" Tifa said.

Soldier jumped, surprised. The Keybearer! That scourge, killer of so many innocent Heartless and Nobodies… but Axel liked Roxas, Sora's Nobody, which meant Soldier had to revise her opinions. She listened closer to the conversation, edging nearer the bed.

Tifa continued, "He wasn't bad news. And he helped you beat Sephiroth. If Sora hadn't worn him down ahead of time, you wouldn't have stood a chance."

Cloud sighed. "Sora was the exception."

"And Donald and Goofy?"

"… Yes."

"See?" Tifa leaned back on her elbows. "There are good people out there. You just need to look for them."

Cloud shook his head and stood up. Soldier crouched on all fours and scooted underneath the empty bed so he wouldn't see her.

"Axel looks too much like part of Kadaj's gang," Cloud said. "And there's something in his eyes that looks the same, something I don't like."

"He has red hair," Tifa pointed out.

"Maybe he got a different gene from the rest."

Tifa sighed. "Go to sleep. We can't kick him out in the middle of the night. Besides, I really doubt that he's part of Sephiroth's family tree."

"All right." Soldier saw Cloud walking towards the bed. And then he sat down. On top of Soldier.

Soldier's eyes widened as the mattress crushed her against the floor. Suddenly, the pressure disappeared. "What was that?"

Had Cloud found her? That was odd. How did he do that?

"What is it?"

"There's something under the bed! I felt a bump."

Well. That was a low mattress. Soldier wondered if she was really that big, or if Cloud was just really sensitive. That was certainly something to ponder…

Wait, Cloud had discovered her. She and Axel would be kicked out. They would have to run from the beams of energy again. But if Cloud was a friend of Sora, he might kill her right here. She had to escape!

Soldier saw Cloud get down on one knee to look under the bed. She scrambled backwards, trying to scoot out the other side. She locked her gaze with Cloud's for an instant, but then she was out the other side and jumped up.

"Tifa! Heartless!"

Someone kicked Soldier in the head. She flew across the room and was abruptly stopped by the wall. The Soldier Heartless weren't supposed to take this abuse; they were almost as fragile as Shadows. Soldier could feel her skull and spine fracture. Nonetheless, her instincts made her stand again as a group of muscles designed for this kind of job tightened around her spine, like an internal cast.

When a human steps on a nail, the foot pulls back before the pain signal reaches the brain. Similarly, an attacked Heartless would fight even if its brain and neural cord weren't present at all. So Soldier stood, in a haze of pain, only a few muscles keeping her from falling apart.

But she didn't want to fight, she thought through the pain. She wasn't wearing her helmet, armored gloves, or boots. She couldn't even control her own movements, and when a Heartless's body went berserker against an enemy with any amount of talent, the Heartless was as good as dead.

Soldier opened a portal to darkness within her mind and was transported through from the inside out. She created another portal from there that would bring her to her other half. Hopefully.

Her cast-muscles and head shuddered with pain as she left the darkness, and she could dimly feel something soft and warm beneath her with the few nerves still connected to her shoulders. She assumed she'd collapsed somewhere, which meant she was safe; otherwise, she'd have gone berserker again. If she was still in Hollow Bastion, then she was indoors, or the energy shooters would have killed her.

Since she could actually reason through all this, she must have been close enough to Axel to feel his influence on her mind. What had she been thinking before, just sitting around and waiting for Cloud to discover her?

Suddenly, the pain in Soldier's head and back faded away. She twitched her feet tentatively and was happy to see that they were working and painless.

"I wasted two potions fixing you," Axel grumbled half-heartedly. Soldier sat up on the bed and happily hugged Axel around the chest. He pried her off long enough to get in bed before he let her curl up beside him, like a dog next to its master. "So, what did you find?"

"Cloud, distrust. Compare: Axel, Kadaj. Knows Sora – a friend – beat Sephi…? Roth? Tifa, trust. Both; discovered me." Soldier closed her eyes and scooted up against Axel. It had been quite a speech, given that Heartless weren't really designed for communicating.

"Huh." Axel said nothing more for a while. "They know Sora. I wonder of they know where Roxas went. Do you think we should ask?"

Soldier nodded once. Why not? It could be fun. Axel had as strong thoughts for Roxas as Nobodies could have, and now Soldier was here to experience and intensify those emotions into something real, whatever that might be.

Searching for Roxas. She liked the idea.

Soldier threw an arm around Axel's neck and settled in for the night. Axel hadn't complimented or thanked her for what she'd done, but Axel wasn't the type to praise himself over his own accomplishments.

x 

Dissolve and Proxy sat together in the dark, illuminated only by the blank white computer monitors. Dissolve was in Whisper's usual seat, the chair turned backwards to face Proxy.

"How long has she been gone?" Proxy said.

Dissolve pushed his sleeve up to check his watch. "Seventeen minutes. Not that it really matters here. Time could mean anything and we have no way of knowing for sure."

"Are you saying that so I stop asking for the time?"

"Yes." Dissolve chuckled. "If you're trying so hard not to be a child, you might want to act a bit more like it."

Proxy shrugged. "I didn't ask to become everyone's hero."

"But you do enjoy it."

"It's how I keep my sanity."

The door opened. Dissolve and Proxy looked up as Whisper came down the stairs into the room. "They didn't have the regular," Whisper said. "The shipment never came in. They think the place it comes from disappeared too."

"That has to be the ultimate insult," Dissolve mourned, standing up. "How do they expect us to live without our ice cream?"

Whisper smiled slightly. "They still have the other flavors. I brought vanilla ice cream cones. Cherry sauce for Proxy and me, chocolate for you, right?"

"Good enough," Proxy said. He and Dissolve took their cones from Whisper and she claimed her regular seat. "It's too bad we lost the sea salt ice cream, though."

"What's it like on the outside?" Dissolve asked.

"Most of them are carrying on," Whisper said. "They're still going through the motions. I heard of a couple more who cracked."

"Anyone we know?" Proxy asked nervously.

"A girl named Ramona and an older man, Mr. Fergus," Whisper said.

Dissolve shook his head. "Ah, Ramona. I knew her well…" He took a thoughtful lick from his ice cream.

"You just knew her name, like every other girl you know so well," Proxy said.

"The laws of physics are still in place," Whisper continued. "The sun's still too hot for me." She examined herself in the light of the computer screens. Her skin, clothes, hair, were all white. If she had a mirror she'd be able to see that her eyes were still white, too. "I probably won't get a burn, though. That's either bad news or good news." It meant either the sunlight didn't affect her, or she'd somehow turned albino. However that happened.

"And your voice is still fading," Dissolve said sadly. "You're simply disappearing all over."

"Unlike you, disappearing from the bottom up," Proxy said, gesturing to Dissolve's knees. From there his legs trailed off into nothingness. He was hovering almost a foot above the floor.

"We need to get our revenge before we disappear for good," Whisper said, and clicked a button on the computer. The screens woke up and resumed their original readings. Ice cream forgotten, Whisper and Dissolve watched the grids as Proxy returned to resting. Someday soon, he'd need his strength. There was an Organization member he had to kill.

xxxxx

End. Not much action this chapter, but it'll be coming soon. Proxy, Whisper, and Dissolve are going to get moving, too, so don't just ignore them. Anyway, please review! Signed-in or anonymous, doesn't bother me either way. (But if you ask a question in an anonymous review, at least leave an email or something so I can answer you. I'm not psychic, ya know!)


	4. Advent x Mages and Chamomile

Not much to say about this chapter, heh. Except, of course, that Merlin is love. And apparently more tolerant of Nobodies than Yen Sid was… Anyway, thanks to all the people who've reviewed the first three chapters. And special thanks to the C2 that added Tears: Axel&Roxas The unbreakable Bond.

By the way, if this chapter looks really wonky for some reason, it's because the document import manager thing wasn't working, so I had to come up with a work-around. Apologies for inconvenience, and let me know if the work-around screwed up somehow.

Disclaimer: All previous disclaimers still apply. I also do not own Merlin.

xxxxx

Chapter IV

Advent // Mages And Chamomile

x

Axel rapped on an old wooden door for the third time, impatiently tapping a foot. Finally, a wavering old voice called, "Just a moment, I'm coming!"

The door swung open and Axel found himself facing a pointy blue hat. He looked down to see an old man with a bushy beard and baggy blue robe. Axel frowned. Perhaps he'd come to the wrong place? "Merlin?"

"Yes indeed," the old man said with a brisk nod. "You must be the boy Leon called me about. Come, I'll make some tea."

Axel stepped inside, feeling a little let down. That morning, he'd seen the guy called Leon in the bar before Cloud or Tifa were up. Axel had asked him if he knew of anyone that could help find someone off-world. Leon had immediately mentioned Merlin and given directions. Axel had told Soldier to stay indoors and out of sight, and then set off for Merlin's house. But now he was having doubts. Merlin was just so short, and kinda funny looking…

"Do you like lemon in your tea? Or milk?" Merlin called from a back room. "Oh, I'll just let you do what you'd like." To Axel's surprise, a cup of tea, wedge of lemon, and pitcher of milk floated from around the corner and landed on a dresser near Axel. Merlin came from around the corner a moment later, sipping his tea.

"I like a dash of lemon myself," he said, setting the cup on the saucer and floating both over to the round table in the middle of the room. He walked up to Axel and studied him intently. "Now, what can I do for you? Are you hoping to find out what you were like before becoming a Nobody, or how to be reunited with your missing heart? Because I'm afraid I can't help you there." Merlin splayed his fingers apologetically. "There are some things even I don't know."

"No, I was – wait. How did you know I'm a Nobody?"

"It's all in the eyes, my boy. You're lacking the spark that true people have. Although," Merlin's eyes twinkled, "coming here in Organization XIII's robe made it a bit obvious."

"I'm an ex-member," Axel said, crossing his arms.

"Why, of course! If you were a current member, you would never have come here so peacefully. Besides, Sora has completely eliminated Organization XIII. It was big news for some time."

"You've heard of Sora?" Axel asked excitedly.

"Yes, I know him." Merlin furrowed his brows. "So, you want to find Sora?"

"Yeah. Er, yes sir," Axel said, trying to stand a little straighter.

Merlin studied Axel carefully a moment. "What's your relationship to him?"

"Uh, well…" Axel thought a moment. "I don't know him personally, but… it's still a pretty personal relationship."

"Really? Could you clarify, please?"

"Sure. I don't know Sora himself, but I'm connected to him by a… a friend, I guess."

"A friend, perhaps, from Organization XIII?"

"Yeah."

"And one who isn't around anymore, I assume?"

"Uh, yeah. You could put it that way."

"I see." Merlin thought a moment, stroking his beard contemplatively. He sighed. "I'm sorry, my boy, but I cannot help you."

"What?" Axel's eyes narrowed. "Can't you find him?"

"I can, but not for your purposes." Merlin smiled apologetically, and brought his tea over to sip.

"What purposes?" Axel demanded. "I just want to find the stupid kid!"

"Because of the friend of yours that he killed?" Merlin shook his head. "No. It's too dangerous. You may approach Sora with peaceful motives, but – and I hope you won't be offended – I'm sorry, Nobodies can't truly feel offended, can they? – but Nobodies and Heartless are rather capricious, unpredictable creatures, even to themselves."

"I don't want to hurt him!" Axel said angrily. Yet, he wondered if perhaps he did. Roxas was gone, and it was Sora's fault. Did Axel blame Sora? No, that would be stupid. After all, Roxas was Sora. But that didn't mean Sora was Roxas.

Axel wondered if he really was like that, just an emotionless killer. He was already emotionless; it was in the job description. But could a Nobody ever rise above that?

Something bumped Axel's chest, and he glanced down. It was a floating teacup and saucer.

"Please, do have your tea before it gets cold," Merlin said gently. "It's the least I can do."

Axel scowled, flipped up his hood, and jerked open Merlin's door. "I hate tea."

x

Tifa was standing with her arms crossed, waiting, when Axel came in. "I thought you'd trained your pet," she said, choosing her words carefully. She had customers and didn't want to upset them.

"She is trained," Axel protested. A hesitant look crossed his face. "What happened?"

"Come on." Tifa walked towards the stains, stopping once to make sure Axel was following. He was, with a worried look on his face.

Tifa lead him upstairs and down the hall, past the master and guest bedrooms. She stopped in front of a door with a messy crayon picture of a brown-haired boy taped on. Above the picture was a piece of construction paper that said "DENZEL" with both Es backwards.

Tifa knocked, then opened the door. Axel glanced in, gasped sharply, and tried to rush past Tifa, who blocked him with one arm.

Cloud was sitting on Denzel's bed, with Axel's Heartless. He was holding the Heartless by the neck and had his sword poised to decapitate it. Denzel was sitting at his desk and Marlene was cross-legged on the floor beside him. The children both looked solemn; Cloud looked furious.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill the Heartless," Cloud said, "or you."

Tifa turned to look at Axel. He was biting his lip nervously, and his eyebrows were furrowed. Oddly, none of this apparent emotion touched his eyes.

"What happened?" Axel asked shakily.

Cloud glanced at Denzel. "Your Heartless attacked Denzel while you were gone. Even though you promised us it was tame."

"And we caught a Heartless in our room last night," Tifa said. "Was that you too?"

Axel's eyes widened. "What? That's impossible! She couldn't have."

"She"? Tifa realized that that was the second time Axel had called his Heartless a female.

"She didn't leave my room once last night. I'd've known. I would have felt it if she'd left the bed."

It took a moment for the full implications of Axel's words to soak in, at least with the adults. Cloud stared in astonishment at the Heartless sitting in his lap, and Tifa stared at Axel. Axel's face reddened, but he didn't try to alter his story. If he wasn't denying it, then he was probably telling the truth. Unless he had incriminated himself in one way to draw suspicion away from the truth.

In any case, Tifa and Cloud had been attacked by a different kind of Heartless. That one didn't have a helmet.

"Well, this is the Heartless that attacked Denzel. It's yours, isn't it?"

Axel nodded slowly. "Yeah. She is." A tone of anger tinted his voice, and he looked sharply at the Heartless. "I told you to stay in our room!"

"You think it understands you?" Tifa said incredulously. "What are you, insane?"

"Yes, I am quite sure SHE understands everything going in, thank you," Axel said defensively.

"Is that how you think you tamed it?" Cloud asked. He glanced at Tifa, grimacing. She understood. This guest of theirs was odd enough; what else was he doing with his "pet"?

Axel caught the glance, translated correctly, and blew up. "Wait, you think I… that's just… that's utterly revolting! What do you think I am, a monster?! I'm not incestuous! Some people, I swear…"

Cloud blinked and interrupted Axel's rant. "'Incestuous'?"

"Right! That's my little sister you've got your sword against, buddy."

Tifa gaped at Axel. "Your sister?" Was that a lie, like how he'd tamed his Heartless? Tifa couldn't tell from Axel's eyes.

"What, you think I'd bother to haul some random Heartless all over the universe for no reason at all? That's my sister, seven years old when her heart was taken by the Heartless. She should be fifteen now. And I'm going to protect her no matter what." Axel summoned the two chakrams he'd had the day before. "That Heartless is my sibling, I'm her older brother and protector. Anyone who tries to harm her is toast. Got it memorized?"

Tifa pivoted around to face Axel in a fighting stance. No one threatened her friends. Axel ignited small flames on the spikes of his chakrams, but glanced nervously at Cloud with his Heartless – his sister – and didn't move.

They were in a stalemate before a fight even started. Tifa would gladly give Axel his sister back, but didn't know how to guarantee her personal safety if she said something wrong, and Cloud probably wouldn't go along with it anyway. Axel had already said he wouldn't give up unless his sister was safe, but the moment he made a move Cloud would kill the Heartless.

Tifa felt a small hand on her leg. Denzel. Horrified, she whispered. "Denzel, go sit down."

Denzel didn't move. Quietly, he said, "Marlene can do bad things sometimes. Sometimes she bugs me, too. But I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to her."

Behind Tifa, Marlene said, "Yeah. I wouldn't stand it if someone hurt Denzel."

"And…" Denzel faltered, but pressed on. "And I bet Axel is a lot like that too, right?"

Tifa glanced at Axel. He was staring at Denzel with a completely blank face. He probably was surprised, but it wasn't visible in his eyes.

Axel swallowed. "Uh, sure. Just like that."

Tifa glanced at Cloud. He was staring at the children and Axel with utter fascination. Tifa dropped her fighter's stance. "Cloud, what do you think?"

Cloud hesitated, and dropped his sword. The Heartless dashed across the room, ran up Axel's trench coat and clung around his neck, shivering with fright. Axel looked at Denzel like he wanted to say something, but the words never came out.

Suddenly, Cloud said, "What's your sister's name?"

"It's… uh…" Axel struggled a moment, then blanched, and then weakly chuckled. "Um, it's been a few years since I've had to use it. She refuses to answer to it, now…" His guilt was visible all over his face, now. Tifa scowled. Liar!

"Well, it was a swell time," Axel said, shifting his Heartless to his left arm, stepping back. Tifa resumed her fighter's pose and Cloud stood up, sword up. "And I'd really like to stay longer, but…" Axel used his free arm to pull reality aside, revealing a portal to a fluctuating blackness, "… I've really got to go."

Axel stepped through the portal, and his door to darkness disappeared with him.

x

"Smart!" Soldier trilled. "Very smart! Axel: smart!"

"If I was that smart I'd have named you," Axel said, smiling weakly.

That didn't matter to a Heartless, of course. She kept bouncing around, exclaiming her joy in the fact that her other half was apparently brilliant.

But there were other matters to attend to. "I can't go back to Tifa's place," Axel muttered. "We should try to squeeze something else out of Merlin before we leave." And they'd have to do it fast, before someone called to tell Merlin to watch out for Axel.

After that, hopefully they could get off-world. Sora had been to many places; perhaps they could find out about Roxas somewhere else.

Axel suddenly realized that this had turned into a full-fledged mission, looking for Roxas. He hadn't expected it to go this far. After all, Roxas was just a friend, wasn't he?

Then again, Axel didn't have anything else to do.

In any case, they had to leave this world, and fast. If they were going back to Merlin's place then they had to do it soon.

"Come on," Axel said. Soldier happily dropped her dance to jump in Axel's arms. "We're going back to Merlin's place. Maybe we can find out where Roxas went."

Soldier nodded, and Axel made a portal out of the darkness.

x

"What is going on in here?" Merlin demanded.

Axel and Soldier's heads jerked up sharply. Merlin was standing in the doorway of his house, holding a bag of groceries. He looked both bewildered and furious.

Axel straightened up, crossing his arms. Hidden in on hand was a small, magical glass orb Axel had discovered in one of Merlin's cabinets. "If no one helps you, you gotta help yourself," Axel said.

Behind him, something crashed to the ground with all the subtlety of a tank blowing up a chandelier. Merlin's eyes widened and he rushed past Axel, wand raised. "No, no, don't do that! That's very valuable!"

Axel turned to watch. Merlin was chasing Soldier around the room while she evaded and pulled open drawers and cabinets. Axel chuckled. His Heartless was putting on quite a show, as well as giving Axel plenty of time to study the orb.

Axel put a spark of Fire into the orb, just enough magic to wake it up. Random thoughts, not Axel's, flowed into his mind. So, Merlin used this to store his memories. Maybe he had put in something about Roxas?

Axel quickly realized that, as hard as he tried, he couldn't search through the orb's contents. He had to wait for something interesting to float by and then mentally latch on to it. This could take a while.

"Fine. Don't say I didn't give you fair warning." Merlin had stopped chasing Axel's Heartless. Now, he aimed his wand straight at her and released a flurry of ice shards.

"Don't you dare!" Axel stretched his empty hand forward and a chakram appeared, instantly releasing a stream of Fire. It bounced off the ice shards, disappearing with smoky hisses. Soldier stumbled back against the platform in the middle of the room, hands raised defensively.

The air sparkled around her and the ice shards rebounded back at Merlin. He dived behind a chest of drawers for cover, while a translucent shield glimmered brightly and vanished.

Axel gaped at Soldier. She was staring wide eyed at her hands. She was holding an old staff that she'd found, with a splintered oak rod and a small, traditional blue mage's hat. It had let her use Reflect magic.

Something from the orb caught Axel's attention, and he grabbed onto it. It was a route Merlin had found that took him to the world of one of his associates. Axel studied it, and smiled. It was a path through the realm of darkness.

"Come on," Axel said. His Heartless dragged her attention away from the staff and jumped into his arms in two bounds. He raised an arm and pulled reality aside.

"Wait!" Merlin called shrilly.

Axel turned to look at him impatiently.

Merlin stood up and dusted his robes off. "Just where do you think you're going now?"

"To find Roxas," Axel said simply.

"Yes, but where?" Merlin asked impatiently. He blinked. "Weren't you searching for Sora?"

"Toh-may-toh, toh-mah-toh," Axel said. "I'm looking for both."

Merlin slowly nodded. "I see… Axel, was it? Perhaps I misjudged your motives, my boy. I apologize."

"Yeah, well…" Axel rubbed his neck awkwardly. What do you say to an apology? Thank you? Let's be friends now? "Just don't make that mistake again."

Axel turned to leave. "Oh, this is yours." He tossed the orb over his shoulder and stepped into the darkness.

Time to find Merlin's little friend.

xxxxx

End. Next chapter, a new world! (Yeah, you all probably know what it is by now…) Please remember to review. Thanks!


	5. Dusk Dreams x Lord Mexico

Thank you again for all the fantastic reviews! Here's chapter five, with a new world! Since the bio site obviously doesn't work anymore, here's a brief explanation: since this is Cinderella's world, obviously, we have Cinderella. Lady Tremaine is the evil stepmother; Anastasia is the redheaded stepsister and Drizella is the brunette stepsister. And probably most people have seen the movie, so you should know the rest! (If not, Google is your friend.) 

EDIT: Thank you very much Sarehptar for pointing out my typo!! Much gratitude, and has been fixed.

Disclaimer: All previous disclaimers apply. Cinderella and all related characters belong to Disney.

xxxxx

Chapter V

Dusk Dreams // Lord Mexico

x

"Cinderella!" Lady Tremaine's voice echoed down the stairs. "The door!" A torrent of deep gong noises echoed through the house, the doorbell.

Cinderella looked up from the table she was dusting to glance out the window. It was pouring rain. Who would be outside in this weather?

"Cinderella!"

"Yes, Stepmother!" Cinderella called upstairs. She put down her feather duster and hurried to the front door.

She unlocked the heavy oak door and pulled it open with some difficulty. "Welcome to the humble home, sir," Cinderella curtsied, "of Lady… Tremaine…" She blinked, startled.

Before Cinderella was the oddest man she had ever seen. His hair, vivid red, was as long as a girl's and not styled at all. It was simply swept back. He was also wearing a simple black coat of sorts, simple in design but with strange metal decorations that the poor clearly wouldn't be able to afford. It looked almost like it was made out of the same material as boots. Perhaps he was a foreigner?

When Cinderella looked down, she gasped and stepped back. He was carrying a child, but Cinderella couldn't make out any skin on it. It was wearing a helmet like a guard at the castle.

She recognized the child's armor, vaguely. Some odd things had happened about a year ago, though no one remembered it very well. Cinderella herself could only recall a few shadow figures, like this child…

The redheaded man apparently took Cinderella's step back to mean that he could come in, which he did. "Thanks," he said, setting down the odd child. "Are you Miss Tremaine?"

"Uh, n-no sir. My name is Cinderella." She quickly curtsied again, staring at the child. Were those _claws?_

"Nice to meet you. The name's Axel." The man held out a hand.

"A pleasure to meet you, sir," Cinderella said faintly, shaking his hand daintily.

"It's just Axel. None of that 'sir' stuff," Axel said, and smiled wryly. Cinderella was stunned. He was treating her as if she was the lady of the house. Couldn't he tell by her clothes that she was merely a servant? Perhaps he didn't care.

The child shook itself vigorously, spraying water all over the marble floor and rugs. Cinderella would have to mop that up later, but for now she was just curious. "Is that your child, si– uh, Axel?"

"Nah." He chuckled. "It's kinda like a pet."

"What? You keep children as pets?" Cinderella looked at Axel in horror. Definitely a foreigner! And apparently, he wasn't from a very civil country…

"No! It's not a human," Axel said quickly. "It's a Heartless. Hey, over here."

At Axel's voice, the "Heartless" ran to him. He picked it up and showed it to Cinderella. "See?"

Cinderella peered inside the helmet. Two tall, golden slits of eyes peered out, with pitch-black skin around. It was even more familiar now, but Cinderella still couldn't place where she'd seen one before. "Wow," she said softly. "Is it an African?" She'd heard that Africans had black skin, though she didn't know they were this dark.

"No, it's like half a human. Kinda. When someone's heart goes dark…" Axel noted the blank look on Cinderella's face and sighed. "She's a monkey, I guess."

"So it's a she." Cinderella stroked the edge of the Heartless's helmet. "Does she have a name?"

"I just call her Soldier," Axel said, shrugging.

"Cinderella!" Lady Tremaine's footsteps echoed down the stairs. "Have you got the door yet?"

Oh no. She hadn't called Lady Tremaine down, so now she would think that Cinderella had left Axel outside until she called. Oh, and then she'd get in trouble for not finishing the dusting, or cleaning the dishes…

Axel accidentally saved Cinderella. "You're Miss Tremaine?" He yelled up the stairs without offering a greeting. "Cinderella said you were around somewhere."

Lady Tremaine paused partway down the stairs, low enough for both Axel and Cinderella to see her. She looked a little confused. Cinderella had never heard anyone address Lady Tremaine so informally before. She wondered if Axel could tell she was the mistress of the household. Perhaps he was an exotic country where they didn't have lords and ladies.

"Yes, I am Lady Tremaine. And you are…?" She arched her eyebrows expectantly. Above her, Cinderella's stepsisters, Anastasia and Drizella, were leaning over the banister to peer at the guest.

"Axel. This is Soldier, my monkey."

Somehow, Lady Tremaine's eyebrows managed to rise even further. "They dress monkeys where you come from?"

"We can't let our servants run around naked." Axel chuckled. For some reason, Cinderella felt that he was enjoying this exchange, but she couldn't understand why.

Lady Tremaine had a thoughtful expression on her face. "Where are you from, Lord Axel?" Lord. Cinderella hadn't thought he was a lord. Then again, who else could afford a monkey servant?

He blinked. "Huh. It's around the, uh… southern part of… the northern region… of… Africa." He nodded once, decisively. "You know the place?"

Drizella gasped and shook her sister's shoulder. "Anastasia, I think he's from Mexico," she hissed. They both squealed excitedly.

"Yeah, that's it," Axel said, grinning broadly. "Mexico." Cinderella's stepsisters were excited to even further squeals.

That couldn't be right. Mexico wasn't even on the same half of the world as Africa; Cinderella had learned that from her father before he died. At least, Cinderella was pretty sure she had. It had been a long time since she'd been allowed to use a globe.

Cinderella glanced at Lady Tremaine and received immediate confirmation. Her stepmother was glaring lividly at Axel, clearly angry at being lied to. Cinderella had been right, but still she was sad. Axel had seemed so friendly, but maybe that was an act, too.

"Anyway, you're probably wondering why I'm here," Axel said. "I wanted to see what simple people live like in this land of yours," he waved vaguely off into space, "so I've been hitchhiking around for a month or so, without any of my usual possessions or attendants except for Soldier. It's been quite an experience, but I'm hoping to spend a night or two in a home of more… esteemed culture."

Axel said the words like a true aristocrat, but that didn't match the way he'd been acting earlier. One way or another, Axel was putting on an act, and Cinderella suspected that he was acting now. Cinderella glanced at Lady Tremaine and was surprised to see her face soften a little. Of course, Lady Tremaine hadn't spoken to Axel as long as Cinderella had, and she was quite easily flattered.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble, would you mind allowing me a room? Of course, you'll be compensated for your troubles. Immediately." Axel put a hand in his pocked and pulled out a jewel.

Cinderella gasped; her stepsisters swooned. It was a gigantic ruby, oddly spiked and sparkling brilliantly. It seemed to hold a fire inside of it that writhed in the light. The ruby had to be priceless.

"Mother, Mother, Mother, take it, please!" Anastasia whined. "I need it! It goes perfectly with my eyes!"

"Nuh-uh, I want it! It would go great with my blue dress," Drizella said.

"The one you stole from me? Ow, stop that!"

"Mother!"

"SILENCE!" The sisters froze mid-battle, still pulling at each other's hair.

Lady Tremaine turned to Axel and smiled thinly. "You are welcome in our house for the night. Cinderella, show him to the guest room."

"Yes, Mother," she said, curtsying to Axel and leading him up the stairs.

Lady Tremaine watched them both suspiciously as they passed her. "I expect you to return the moment you've escorted Lord Axel to his room. You are not to… enjoy his company, Cinderella."

Her cheeks flamed with embarrassment, and she said, "Yes Mother!" She would never do something like that with anyone before she married, especially not a stranger! Lady Tremaine knew that very well, too; she had just been trying to humiliate Cinderella in front of their guest.

Axel chuckled softly, clearly amused by Lady Tremaine's comment. How he could be, Cinderella couldn't imagine. "That lady's your mom? Not your granny or something?" he asked.

Lady Tremaine looked miffed. "Cinderella is my servant!" she said as Axel and Cinderella went out of sight at the top of the stairs.

In front of the guest room door, Cinderella dared to whisper, "She's my step-mother. My father is dead."

Axel nodded, as if in understanding, which was exactly what Cinderella was hoping for. "He's got shitty taste in women," he said, and shoved two jewels into her hand while she was stunned by his language. "The Blazing Shard's for Granny Tremaine. The Twilight Gem's for you. I think you need it more than her anyway." Soldier hopped into Axel's room, and he closed the door.

Alone, Cinderella studied the two jewels up close. She could tell that the ruby was the Blazing Shard, which meant the other jewel was the Twilight Gem. It was cut like a diamond, but it wasn't clear. Instead, it quietly glowed a chilly, brilliant white, like the moon on a clear winter night. Even so, the gem also held a strange sadness. As if the creature that had created this jewel had forgotten how to be happy.

A creature, creating a jewel? Where had that come from? She fingered her gem thoughtfully. She wasn't sure why, but something about Axel was very familiar, especially his pet. He had something to do with the odd things that had happened a year ago, but was that a good or bad thing?

He had called it a Heartless. Where had she heard that name? She wasn't sure, but along with the shadowy shapes, she seemed to recall a silvery-white gown, several beautiful young women, and the inside of a strange castle…

Cinderella shook her head, pocketed the gem, and headed downstairs to give the Blazing Shard to Lady Tremaine before returning to work.

x 

"We're getting pretty good at finding cheap rooms, huh?" Axel said. "It's a good thing the Heartless don't hang around on this world. We never would've bought a room like this with just a shard and a gem."

"Heartless left," Soldier said. "Heart-Princess, took; destroyed. Fixed."

There used to be Heartless here, to kidnap a Princess of Heart and then destroy the world. But when the world had come back and the Princess returned, the Heartless had left, and only a vague memory of them remained.

It was quite impressive what Soldier could communicate with seven words and a few mental images. "That's good luck for us, then," Axel said.

He lay down on the bed. Pretty soft, not like the junk they got in the Organization. Soldier hopped onto the bed beside him and started bouncing on it. Axel let himself be bounced, eyes closed and thinking about what came next. They'd have to go look for Merlin's associate, pretty soon. They could do that tomorrow morning, probably in the market area of this place.

Soldier finally calmed down long enough to say, "Happy."

"Really?" Axel shrugged. "Okay. It's a nice place, I guess. How long do you think we can keep up the act to stay here?"

Soldier shook her head emphatically, suggesting that that wasn't quite what she had meant. "Lots happy, bad. No Heartless; no Nobodies. Empty – happy."

"Ah. Gotcha." Soldier didn't like being on a world inhabited only by normal people. While Nobodies craved humanity and always worked towards experiencing as much of it as possible, Heartless sought their own kind. "Well, you can steal hearts. Go make a few playmates."

Soldier hopped off the bed and did a happy, twitchy dance. Axel chuckled, then said, "Take that staff with you so I can tell you apart from any Soldiers you create, okay?" And maybe Soldier could practice some magic.

Soldier nodded, jumped on the bed long enough to fish the staff out of the pocket in Axel's coat (she didn't have her own pockets), and left.

Axel wasn't sure what time it was on this world, but he was tired. He stripped and got into bed, not bothering take care of any hygiene; he'd get around to it eventually.

He certainly wasn't worried about Soldier. There was nothing on this world she needed to defend herself against. Besides, he thought as he drifted off to sleep, she might learn how to use the staff, and then the two of them would be a force to be reckoned with.

And wouldn't Roxas be interested to see how strong Axel was when he had his second half back? Maybe he'd be strong enough to beat Sora and free Roxas.

Axel turned over restlessly. Of course, he couldn't do that. He wouldn't hurt Roxas.

But if he ever got Sora on his own…

x 

"Did you see the paper?" Anastasia yelled, waving a disorderly bundle of newsprint over her head as she ran into the kitchen. Soldier watched it wave back and forth tempted to jump up and claw at it. But someone had told her not to do anything that might get her in trouble and in any case she was quite satisfied at the moment. She had fed on enough hearts.

"Look, look!" Anastasia was still shouting, holding the paper so her sister could see. "Twenty-four people disappeared last night, even some of the King's guard!"

"What kind of people? Rich ones?" Drizella asked anxiously, jumping up from the kitchen table to see.

Anastasia snorted. "Of course! Do any others matter?" They skimmed the paper together, tilting their heads at the difficult words. After three sentences they were almost upside-down.

"What are you doing here by yourself?"

Soldier looked up at Cinderella. She was watching the Heartless while balancing a stack of dirty breakfast dishes on one arm. "Axel hasn't come downstairs yet, has he?"

Soldier blinked, blissfully uncomprehending. She had been away from her Nobody all night, and was missing her intellect in both senses of the word – lacking it and wishing it was back. She couldn't remember where her other half was, though, so she would wait where she was.

"You must be hungry," Anastasia said. She checked to see if Lady Tremaine was watching, then plucked a half-eaten biscuit off a plate and gave it to Soldier. "Here, this should help."

Soldier held the biscuit between two claws as Anastasia hurried off, poked it and watched it crumble, and dropped it.

Her other half wasn't here. She had made some Heartless on this world, so she should join them in the dark. It was too bright here. Soldier prepared to will herself into the realm of darkness.

"Hey. Where's breakfast?" Axel strode into the room, nodding to Soldier in greeting.

Soldier jumped, startled to recognize this Nobody so well, and as her intellect returned she was terrified to realize she hadn't remembered him earlier. Soldier hopped into Axel's arms. If Axel had been a moment later, she would have left and been as mindless as any normal Heartless. She had to stay close to him if she didn't want to lose her mind, literally.

"I'm sorry, we ate without you," Lady Tremaine said. "However, you may ask Cinderella to fix something for you. I'm sure she isn't doing anything else."

"Nah, it's cool," Axel said.

Lady Tremaine's eyebrows furrowed. "Pardon?"

"No thank you," Axel clarified. Soldier knew he was trying to restrain a chuckle. "I can go grab a bagel."

"What's a bagel?" Drizella hissed, and Anastasia elbowed her sharply. "It's Mexican, stupid."

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry if Cinderella's cooking isn't up to your expectations," Lady Tremaine said coolly. "We could certainly get her to fix that, if you wish."

Axel laughed, more mockingly than amusedly. "I haven't even seen her cooking. I just like eating out." He half-saluted his hosts, snapped up his hood, and strode out of the kitchen.

"Did you make a few friends last night?" he asked. Soldier nodded excitedly and held up two Twilight Shards.

"And killed a few," he said, smirking as he took the shards from Soldier. "Just the Nobodies, I see." She nodded again.

Axel and Soldier were well out of sight of any of their hosts, so Axel opened a path to the darkness. "Let's see if we can find a district with more people," he said. "Maybe we'll find Merlin's associate there. Think we can handle him?"

Soldier nodded, pulling out her mage's staff. She would be prepared.

"Then let's go." He stepped into the darkness, and fell closed behind them as they stepped through.

xxxxx

Reviews, concrit, questions, and even flames (I'm easily amused) all greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading!


	6. Dusk Dreams x Conscious and Conscience

Thank you all so much for all the reviews! I'm glad so many people are enjoying Tears. Nothing new to explain this chapter, I don't think. For the hard-core Cinderella fans out there, I should probably point out that I didn't include the Cinderella's mice and birds, just so no one's surprised. 

Disclaimer: All previous disclaimers apply.

xxxxx

Chapter VI

Dusk Dreams // Conscious and Conscience

x

"This is pitiful." Axel was slouched on the stone wall surrounding a water fountain, his chin in his hand. Soldier was a few feet away with several small children surrounding her curiously. "No magicians, mages, witches, Nobodies, Heartless… not even bagels."

A couple slowed down to stare at Axel's vivid red hair, but hurried off when he glanced up. He was used to that by now, and it was too hot for him to wear his hood without drawing attention.

Too hot, in fact, for a normal person to be wearing a trench coat at all. But based on what Axel had seen of the locals' clothing, they would probably be even more freaked out if he walked around in a t-shirt and black jeans. He suspected that these people didn't have contact with other worlds very often.

In any case, heat didn't bother him all that much.

Axel swirled a gloved hand through the fountain water. The water around his hand began boiling as he thought over the morning. He'd gone through the busiest part of town, but neither he nor Soldier had noticed anything out of the ordinary.

He had discovered that this world wasn't very technologically advanced, magic was known of but only in myths, and according to a very talkative girl in front of a fabric shop who would have made an excellent car saleswoman on another world, red silk was all the rage. None of this really helped Axel.

The rest of the fountain water was boiling by now; Axel watched it with mild disinterest. So, what was he supposed to do? For now he could go back to the Tremaine place for lunch.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?"

Axel glanced up at the police officer. The part of the stone border of the fountain closest to his hand was starting to turn red. "I'm boiling the water."

The officer opened his mouth, blinked, and gave up. "Can you do that in private, sir?"

Axel shrugged and stood up. "Suit yourself." He picked up Soldier with his dry arm, to the disappointment of the children, and held his wet hand out to the officer to shake. "Good day, sir."

"Oh, well," the officer chuckled, "good day to you too – YOWCH!"

While the officer was distracting the crowd by hopping around with his hot hand, Axel opened reality and disappeared before the officer's eyes.

x 

"Cinderella! The door!"

"Yes, Mother."

Cinderella hurried across the room to open the front door, checked to make sure there was no one unusual on the other side, and curtsied. "Welcome to the humble home of Lady Tremaine, sir. May I ask what your business is?"

The man at the door brushed past Cinderella and walked inside. "Where is the lady of this house?"

"She should be coming shortly, sir," Cinderella said, knowing full well that she wasn't actually being heard. So it always was, with visitors, strangers, and even her stepfamily.

"Welcome!" Lady Tremaine hurried into the room, smiling benevolently. She glanced at Cinderella. "Did you ask him what he wants, Cinderella?"

"He didn't say…" The visitor and Lady Tremaine gave Cinderella withering stares, then turned to talk to each other.

"I come with news from the castle," said the visitor.

"Oh? Of what?"

"A ball, for the prince."

"Really!"

"Yes, madam. The prince hopes to find a bride, and has asked that all eligible young ladies come. He will choose one to be his princess, and later, the queen."

"Why, that sounds like quite an honor." Lady Tremaine's eyes glittered. "How many from each household?"

"As many as there are."

"Well! Then there will be two from the Tremaine household."

Only two? Cinderella opened her mouth to protest, but couldn't say anything. What could possibly get Lady Tremaine to listen?

"Hey, I think you screwed up that count."

That got their attention.

Cinderella glanced up the staircase. Axel was sitting on the railing on the second floor landing, feet dangling over the edge. Soldier was beside him, standing on the railing.

"Tremaine. You've got two daughters, right?" Axel asked. Lady Tremaine gaped at him, shocked. Cinderella had to admit that Axel's manners rattled her a bit, too. "Well, don't you?"

Lady Tremaine nodded reluctantly. "Yes, Drizella and Anastasia."

"Yeah. And they're both available?"

"Yes."

"So, there's them and Cinderella. That's three. Are you hiding any other step-daughters in the basement?" Axel smiled humorlessly.

"Cinderella is not available," Tremaine said.

"She's not married. You have a boyfriend or something, Cinderella?" Axel looked straight at her.

His eyes were dead. Cinderella could see thoughts behind his eyes, an intellect, but there was no feeling in there. No life; no heart. Cinderella shivered. But Axel was trying to help her. He was good.

She ignored his eyes and the indiscretion of his question and answered. "No, sir, I don't."

Axel nodded. "So there's three."

Lady Tremaine shot Cinderella a smoldering look, as if this were her fault. "Fine, three. If Cinderella can finish all her chores and get a suitable dress."

That would be easy. Cinderella just had a few errands to run, and she still had a dress her father had given her, years ago.

"Oh, thank you, Mother!" Cinderella started towards the kitchen to get a basket to carry groceries in. That was one of her errands, shopping.

"Don't forget to give Lucifer a bath when you get back," Lady Tremaine called.

Cinderella didn't remember being told to wash her stepmother's cat. A nervous pit formed in her stomach. "Yes, mother."

x 

Axel leaned over the stairway railing, this time with both feet on the floor, watching as Cinderella hurried back and forth below. Occasionally, someone in another room would shout "Cinderella!" and off she'd run with another chore.

"Mean," Soldier said. She sounded approving. "Think; Heartless?"

"You mean Granny Tremaine? Nah, she's a whole person."

Soldier shook her head. "No. Make one."

Axel thought a moment. "We could. She'd make a strong Nobody, at least."

Soldier did an amused dance. "Organization II?"

"I wouldn't work with her," Axel said. "Besides, we need Roxas. It would be Organization III at least."

Cinderella dashed upstairs with a pail of water and tripped over Soldier. Both fell on the ground. The water spilled as the pail rolled on its side, soaking the carpet.

Cinderella leaped up. "Oh! I'm so sorry! Are you all right? Is there anything I can do?"

"We're fine," Axel said. "Go ahead, we can handle this."

Cinderella looked at the soaked carpet. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, just go back to your work."

Cinderella said a quick thanks, picked up her pail, and dashed off.

One chakram appeared in Axel's hand and he heated the floor enough to evaporate the water. The carpet was dark blue, no one would notice the scorch marks.

Why had he done that? He could have let Cinderella take care of it; it wasn't like he cared either way.

Or did he? Now that he stopped to consider it, he really didn't think he could have let Cinderella clean the spill up all by herself, not when she had so many other things to do. But why did it matter to him?

"Thanks a lot," Axel said to Soldier. "Because of you, I have a conscience."

"I don't," Soldier said cheerfully.

"Great. You get a brain, and I get guilt. Some partnership we've got here."

Downstairs, Lady Tremaine once again shouted, "Cinderella!" She wanted someone to light a fire in the fireplace.

Axel leaned over the railing and tried to look through a door on the ground floor, to the right. He was pretty sure the fireplace was in there. "What do you say we give Granny Tremaine a shock?" He knew the answer, of course. Soldier enjoyed the same things he did.

Axel opened reality to step into darkness, and stepped outside in the room on the first floor. There was a bookcase that looked like it hadn't been touched in centuries, so Axel grabbed a couple of hefty volumes, tossed them in the fireplace, and lit them.

A few seconds later Cinderella dashed in. "It's taken care of," Axel said.

"Oh! But how did… Thank you, Axel." Cinderella curtsied. "It would have taken me half an hour to get the wood and start the fire."

"No problem," Axel said dismissively. "Don't you have other work to do?"

"Um, yes. Thank you." With one more curtsy, Cinderella finally left.

Axel curled his nose. She was so polite, it almost made him want to be physically ill. Upstairs, one of the stepsisters shouted that her room was too hot.

Axel left the room and shouted upstairs, "Can you do Blizzard yet?" Soldier leaned over the railing to nod an affirmative and disappeared into the realm of darkness. Axel hoped she'd come out in the right room.

This was much more interesting than waiting for Merlin's friend to appear. And maybe all this magic would make him curious and he'd show up on his own.

From upstairs, the other stepsister whined, "Cinderella, I'm hungry! I want roast turkey, and I want it well done!"

Axel smirked. Well-done was his specialty. He stepped into darkness to "borrow" one from downtown. He'd have that turkey done in five minutes.

x 

"The Organization XIII member is going in and out of the realm a lot," Whisper said. Dissolve moved behind her chair. Proxy opened one eye to peer at the computer displays. "He's entered and exited eleven times in the past six minutes." Whisper tapped each rip as she displayed shots of the grid from the past few minutes.

"It looks like he is quite the busy little bee," Dissolve said, putting his hands on the back of the chair. "How long each time?"

Whisper leaned forward to avoid the wide folds of Dissolve's sleeves. "Barely a second."

"Keep watching," Dissolve ordered. Proxy moved closer to the computer screens to watch. "If he's in there for more than two seconds, let's assume he's staying for at least a few seconds more. Proxy can organize an attack then."

Whisper nodded. "It shouldn't be long. He hasn't stopped hopping in and out of the realm yet."

"Good," Proxy said. "I'll be ready."

The three figures waited in silence, eyes riveted to the tiny pixilated tears, waiting with bated breath for the perfect moment.

xxxxx

Review, concrit, questions, and flames happily accepted. Thanks for reading, and be prepared for a battle scene next chapter!


	7. Dusk Dreams x Gold Eyed Envy

Thank you all so much for your reviews! We've finally made it to a battle scene, yay. An opportunity for all of you wondering who Proxy, Dissolve, and Whisper are to pick up a few more clues. Special thanks to the C2 Too Much Eye Candy To Handle for adding Tears!

EDIT: Sarehptar saves me from typo-spawned humiliation again. Thankee!

Disclaimer: Same old, same old.

xxxxx

Chapter VII

Dusk Dreams // Gold Eyed Envy

x

A tear opened, remained open. Whisper silently counted the seconds. Three, four. "Is this it?" she asked.

Dissolve nodded. "He looks like he's paused for a moment. This may be our chance, mine allies! Attack now!"

"Mine allies?" Proxy muttered. He rolled his golden eyes, said, "I'm already going," narrowed his eyes in concentration, and seemed to lose track of reality.

Dissolve chuckled. "So, this is the start of our quest of righteousness, the end of an Organization member at our own hands."

Whisper also found him a bit melodramatic, but decided she'd be a bit more mature than Proxy. "This'll be our first victory," she agreed, somewhat less enthusiastically than her ally.

They watched the grid and the tear that had formed, waiting for it to fade out permanently.

x

Cinderella closed the attic door carefully before walking over to her wardrobe. She opened it and stood on her toes to remove a dress from a shelf at the very top, narrow enough that her step family would never notice it up there. She held the shoulders of the dress and let it unfold, shaking it slightly to get out the wrinkles. It was still beautiful. Her father had told Cinderella years ago that the dress had belonged to her mother.

Cinderella changed quickly into the dress and looked at herself in the cracked mirror hanging on one side of the wardrobe. Just as Father had promised she would, she had grown to look like her mother; the dress fit her perfectly.

It had taken her all evening to finish her chores, and she doubted she would have completed half of them if it hadn't been for the help of Axel. But now she was finished, and could go to the ball. It was, without a doubt, the most exciting thing she'd ever get to do in her sheltered life.

She quickly brushed her hair, slipped on her shoes, and hurried down the stairs from the attic. Lady Tremaine and her daughters were just about to leave. "Mother, wait! I'm coming, too!" She turned in the narrow corridor of the spiraling stairs, and stopped.

Standing in front of her were Drizella and Anastasia, arms crossed, smiling nastily. "Are you, Cinderella?" Anastasia asked.

Uncertainly, Cinderella clasped her hands together. "Yes. I have a dress, and Stepmother said I could go..."

"That was because of your little friend from Me-xi-co," Drizella said. "But he isn't here now."

A sudden jolt of surprise, unpleasant surprise, came from her chest. "Axel left?" She thought Axel was helping her! And yet, his eyes had looked so cold earlier, like looking into the Twilight Gem. Did he really care?

"Besides, you need to have a dress of your own," Anastasia said. "And this brooch," she grabbed Cinderella's brooch, along with a handful of her dress, and ripped, "is mine!"

Cinderella stumbled back and fell on the stairs, clutching at her torn dress. The sisters closed in on her, cackling wickedly, to finish Anastasia's work.

As they tore her dress apart, even ripping at her hair when they ran out of unmarred fabric to tear, the sisters forced her upstairs, back into her attic. "Looks like you won't be going to the ball after all," Drizella said, shoving Cinderella to the floor.

"Have a nice time at home, Cinderella!" Anastasia said. The two sisters headed back down the stairs to the ball, laughing with each other and at Cinderella.

Cinderella stared at the remains of her dress. The last memory she had of her mother was gone.

She leaped up and ran to the one small window in her room. It was coated with years of dirt and dust, so it stuck closed. Cinderella had to pound on the warped board several times before the window came open.

The sun was low, and the sky was washed with pale yellows and deep blues of twilight. Twilight. Cinderella scooped her regular working dress off the floor and pulled the Twilight Gem out of the pocket, holding it up against the sky. It sparkled brilliantly. The low sunlight danced across its surface and its melancholy glow intensified. So this was how it had gotten the name Twilight Gem. It was the most beautiful as the day died.

It had been a gift from Axel. The gem shimmered and brightened into a single brilliant star, blurring her sight; Cinderella realized that she was crying. Axel had given her a gem when he had many, gotten her invited to a ball at no cost to himself, and done a few chores that were easy for him. He had been a friend to her on a mere whim and left again, just some rich wanderer who wouldn't even give a straight answer about what country he came from! Cinderella should never have trusted him. After all that, what had been true her whole life only proved true again. Nobody ever came to her rescue. Nobody deserved her trust.

Cinderella dashed down the stairs and out the back door, finally collapsing on a rock in the back yard to sob.

Someone laid a hand on her shoulder. She jerked her head up. "Who's there?"

Cinderella stood and turned around to see an old woman in blue. The woman smiled kindly. "Why, don't you recognize me, Cinderella? I'm your fairy godmother."

Cinderella blinked. "I have a... fairy godmother? Why are you here? Are you... Can you help me?"

"Certainly." The fairy beamed. "After all, that's why I'm here. Now, there's no time to waste, deary. You have a ball to attend. Let's start with that dress. We'll have you fixed up in a jiffy!"

x

Axel and Soldier appeared together in the darkness, running into each other for the first time since they had started their little scheme. It was probably time Axel checked up on his Heartless. "Keeping up the good work?"

Soldier nodded.

"I think Tremaine's finally getting tired," he said. "She's running out of errands. Do you think she suspects anything?"

Soldier didn't respond. Her gaze suddenly locked on something behind Axel and she radiated wariness into his mind. He turned around, hand raised in preparation to grab onto his chakram.

There was another Heartless. It looked like a mage Heartless, similar to a Bookmaster, but with a fully humanoid body. Behind Axel, Soldier whispered, "Bad. Kill; self defense."

"We kill or it kills?" Axel whispered back.

"We. NOW!"

The mage Heartless lunged forward, shooting a stream of Fire at Soldier from its hands. Axel jumped in the way, caught the fire with a chakram, and shot it back at the mage Heartless. It fell backwards and looked at Axel with surprised, golden eyes. Axel looked back with equal surprise. It could use Fire, but was still damaged by it. Obviously, it wasn't an elemental Heartless. That meant it could use any form of magic.

Axel's skin tingled with static electricity. "Soldier, Reflect!" He whirled around in time to see Soldier cast the spell as a torrent of lightning descended upon her. It hit the sparkling wall and was repelled with a hiss of sparks.

Axel felt a sudden jolt of pain – it was from Soldier. Some of the lightning must have gotten though. Soldier had timed Reflect perfectly, so the mage Heartless must have used Thundara at least, probably Thundaga. This wasn't a typical Heartless.

The mage Heartless easily repelled the remaining lightning with a much stronger shield, directing it all towards Axel. Reflega. Axel stumbled backwards from the impact. He had no defense against Thunder magic.

"What does it want with us?" Axel hissed at Soldier, leaping a safe distance back from the mage Heartless.

"Nothing," Soldier said. "Follows orders?" She cast a weak Blizzard. The mage Heartless engulfed it with a stream of fire.

"Who is it following orders from?"

"Dunno." Soldier sounded perplexed. "Someone new."

That meant there was another faction with power over the Heartless. There had been Ansem, Maleficent, Xemnas... who now? Axel couldn't find out who it was without the rest of the Organization. How dangerous were they?

In any case, this Heartless needed to be killed before more popped up. Axel didn't know if it had any weaknesses, but he knew that he had an advantage. "Okay, I got a plan," Axel said. "Fire magic. And stay behind me." He sensed Soldier nod.

The mage Heartless's golden eyes narrowed, and it shifted warily from one foot to another. It looked intelligent. Axel hadn't seen any other Heartless like that, unless Ansem counted. And even Ansem wasn't too bright.

Axel tensed his muscles slightly, preparing to attack. Soldier took her cue and jumped forward, creating a ring of Fire that passed harmlessly around Axel and dashed towards the mage Heartless. It reflected the magic at Axel; he absorbed the fire without damage and shot a Firaga orb straight back.

The spell hit and sent the mage Heartless sprawling. Before it was back on its feet, Soldier and Axel jumped forward together and cast Fire and Firaga in rapid succession. The mage Heartless raised a hand to cast Reflega and then staggered to its feet, anger in its eyes. It understood the game, it told Axel, before it was once again forced to defend itself as Axel and Soldier attacked.

At this point, it was a battle over who could use magic the longest. The battle was two-to-one, but Soldier wasn't a kind of Heartless that was even supposed to use magic and Axel, with only one kind of magic, had a limit to his power. As long as the mage Heartless could cast spells, Axel and Soldier were at a disadvantage.

Soldier was the first to run out. She raised her staff, clenching it as tightly as she could with her claws, and nothing happened. Axel scooped her up in his left arm without a pause in the fighting. He was getting tired too, but the second there was a gap between attacks the mage Heartless would be free to go on the offensive. That would be the end of Soldier. She couldn't survive another Thundaga, especially without Reflect.

The mage Heartless repelled another burst of fire and Axel twisted sideways so it wouldn't hit Soldier. He stumbled and caught himself with his free arm, dropping the one chakram he was using.

That was all the mage Heartless needed. It lifted both hands with fingers arched upwards and cast Gravity.

Axel couldn't attack without his weapon; he couldn't defend or retreat while protecting Soldier. He just had to hold on as the spell started to take hold.

xxxxx

Review, concrit, question, flame, whatever. Any comments appreciated. The battle to be concluded next chapter, whoo!


	8. Dusk Dreams x The Good Fairy's Gifts

Thanks for your reviews! Here we've got the conclusion of the battle and a new world at the end. Hope you enjoy! 

Disclaimer: All previous disclaimers still apply, and I do not own the new characters that pop up this chapter; they would be property of Disney.

xxxxx

Chapter VIII

Dusk Dreams // The Good Fairy's Gifts

x

The mage Heartless lowered its arms, watching Axel and Soldier as its spell took hold. Axel clung to Soldier, sure that if he let go, she would be sucked into Gravity and never come out.

An orb of faint pearly light formed in front of the mage Heartless, whirling fast enough to howl like a tornado. Axel felt the air being sucked away from him, and clung tighter to Soldier as he began to lose footing. This wasn't low-level magic; it was a Gravira, definitely. Axel couldn't hold out against it for long.

The storm ebbed slightly, but the mage Heartless cast Gravira again. With the combined force of a new Gravira and the remains of the old, Axel and Soldier were pulled into the air and trapped in the core of the storm.

The force of the air around Axel crushed the breath out of his lungs and tried to tear Soldier out of his arms, but he couldn't let go. Axel realized that with his arms crushing Soldier so tightly under the influence of Gravira, he was doing more damage than the spell would have done on its own. If the spell didn't end soon, Soldier would die. Axel was killing his own heart.

The spell ended, and both were dropped from the air. Axel tried to gasp in some air and turned his head to look at Soldier. Her back was twisted almost completely around and bent in a V; she wasn't moving. There was nothing to keep the mage Heartless from killing her.

The mage Heartless walked over to Soldier, nudged her with its foot. Soldier didn't move. Satisfied, it lifted a hand and prepared to cast a final spell.

Soldier's eyes opened, and cast a pale yellow glow as if she wasn't really seeing. Her back muscles twisted and rammed her spine back into position and she jumped up with both claws flailing. The mage Heartless stumbled back but Soldier's body pursued it, slashing wildly in the direction of the target. The mage Heartless stumbled back, fell, and couldn't counterattack. Finally it curled up on the ground and bared the attacks as well as it could.

The mage Heartless twisted to look at Axel with utter fury in its eyes, then faded out of existence.

Axel struggled to pull a hi-potion out of his pocket. He cracked the thin glass with his thumb, as if it was a glow stick. The hi-potion rushed out of the bottle and up Axel's arm, healing him as it went. He sat up and pulled out another, cracked off the top, and sprayed the contents towards Soldier. The hi-potion reacted automatically and did its work. He saw Soldier's spine realign and snap back into place. Soldier stood up and hugged Axel.

"Let's get out of here," Axel said, "before another one of those things shows up."

He stood shakily, grabbed one of Soldier's claws, and left the realm of darkness as quickly as possible.

x 

"Lost him."

Dissolve slammed his fist against the keyboard, growling. "He – argh! That Nobody!"

"Please don't do that," Whisper said, her voice strained, leaning away from Dissolve. He'd hit the keyboard right beside her. Whisper's pale fingers tugged on Dissolve's wide sleeve, trying to make him move. "It took us forever to repair the damage Roxas did."

"I know. If only we could use the other computers..."

The group looked over at the pinpoint of light floating at the side of the room, ready to transport them to a parallel world, and sighed in unison.

"We'll never be able to use it," Whisper said.

"Thanks for that brilliant observation," Proxy muttered. He was sitting in his corner and fully aware of the world again.

"I'm just trying to help," Whisper said, turning slightly to glare at Proxy. He looked at her for only a moment before awkwardly turning his golden eyes away from her white eyes. "It's not like I have anything other job than to sit and stare at this screen."

"But you have the most important job," Dissolve said soothingly. "We need someone here monitoring the realm of darkness, the Nobodies' home, our world and its parallel world, and the computer signals between worlds. It's a 24/7 job, and you're the only one who can do it."

"I know," Whisper sighed.

"The surviving Nobody is number VIII," Proxy interrupted. "Axel. He has a Soldier Heartless with him, but he taught it to use a mage's staff. VIII is creative, and they're strong together."

"Too strong for you." Dissolve's smirk was half hidden in his upturned collar. Proxy narrowed his golden eyes.

"No one in this reality is too strong for me anymore," he said. "And there won't be one in VIII's reality by the time I'm finished.

Whisper sighed. "You used to be such a sweet child."

"When? We didn't 'used to be' anything and we still aren't." Proxy glanced at Dissolve's missing legs and Whisper's fading body. "Some of us are becoming less than nothing."

Dissolve and Whisper nodded sadly.

"Which is why, my allies," Dissolve started, "we need to find VIII and dispose of him before..."

For once, he trailed off without finishing his words. Instead, he cleared his throat, turned towards Whisper, and said, "Our fate rests on your shoulder, fair maiden."

Whisper decided that, coming from Dissolve, the "fair" bit wasn't a crack at her skin, and nodded. "I'll let you know," she said, turning back towards the computers and waiting for the Nobody to reappear.

x 

Axel and Soldier appeared on the second floor landing of the Tremaine house, well after dark. Faint, low sunlight lit the first floor through windows, but the upper floor was unlit. Axel was pretty sure that the ball Cinderella wanted to go to so badly had already started, which meant that he was free to search for Merlin's friend.

Or collapse on the floor and sleep a day or two. Soldier, who didn't care about the formalities of cultured society, had decided to use Axel's foot as a pillow and fallen asleep already.

They had to keep moving. Axel and Soldier were still fairly injured and out of potions, and so far he had found no stores on this world that sold healing items. He didn't want to go into the realm of darkness again, not if there was a chance another one of those mage Heartless could show up. He had to get outside and find some help.

Axel picked Soldier up and carried her down the stairs. He blinked repeatedly, trying to see through the dark. Usually, he had perfect night vision. He was getting tired.

At the bottom of the stairs, a light to the side caught Axel's attention. He turned to see what it was. Faint glimmers of blue light were coming from the kitchen. Curious, Axel started towards it. It was as good a place as any to look for a potion. They seemed like a common household item you'd keep in a kitchen.

The light was still faint in the room, but it seemed to be coming from the window. Axel walked up to it and pulled the curtain aside. Light almost as bright as day burst into the room. Soldier opened one eye a slit. "Sun?"

"I don't think so," Axel said, pushing open the door. He looked up. The night sky appeared as it always did. Stars covered the black expanse, fading out along one edge that was still tinged red from sunset. This was the work of some strong magic. Merlin's friend was nearby.

Axel took a few steps into the backyard. He stopped. In front of him was Cinderella, in the process of being completely made over. Beside her, a pumpkin and some rocks grew to become a carriage and horses; the orange plant and its vines writhed and twisted as it grew, turning diamond white and supported by delicate, wire-like wheels. In the midst of it all was a smiling woman in blue, waving a slender wand. Axel reflexively flipped up his hood as he stepped back in the house.

A mage, right on the Tremaines' estate. How had Axel missed that? In any case, he couldn't approach the mage in his condition. Then again, it looked like a friendly mage. Well, if she was associated with Merlin...

After hiding inside for a few minutes, Axel noticed with a jolt that the light was starting to dim. Afraid that he'd missed the mage, he stepped out of the house and shouted, "Wait!"

The mage turned. Her wand was raised and she looked like she had been preparing to leave. "Yes? Axel, isn't it? And Soldier?"

Axel blinked, surprised. "Yeah, that's us." He pulled down his hood.

The mage nodded and smiled. "I saw what you did for my Cinderella. I'm very grateful to the both of you."

Soldier opened her eyes fully and looked at the mage, interested. No one had been grateful to her before.

"It was nothing," Axel said dismissively. Why was everyone he ran into so annoyingly polite? "But listen. We need a..."

"A favor," the mage said, and nodded. "I thought as much. I can't put the two of you together again, if that's what you were going to ask, but I can help in other ways."

"No, I don't care about that," Axel said impatiently. Did he? He was too tired to care. "Do you know where Roxas is? Or Sora."

The mage thought a moment. "I don't think I've ever heard of a Roxas before, but Sora... Sora... I'm sorry. I don't know where he is now." She shrugged apologetically. "I haven't seen him in over a year."

Axel's shoulders slumped, but Soldier perked up. The mage didn't know where Sora was now, but she did know him personally. "Can you tell me about any worlds he's been to, at least?" Axel asked.

"I know of a couple," the mage said. "One of them, Traverse Town, was abandoned when its residents returned to their home worlds. But I believe the other one is the same as when Sora visited it. They could help you there." She lifted her wand. "Now, lean a bit this way, deary, this won't hurt a bit." The mage tapped Axel's head. Knowledge of the world's location appeared in his mind. Axel looked over it quickly, making sure it was enough to get him to the world through the realm of darkness.

"Thanks," he said quickly, and pulled aside to slip into darkness. It strained his already tired body, but he wanted to get to the new world as soon as possible to find some place to rest. He didn't want to linger in the darkness if there was the chance of another mage Heartless appearing.

Half-exhausted, Axel slipped into the darkness and let the door to reality collapse behind him.

x 

Cinderella stepped into the ballroom, her white-gloved hands clasped nervously. She wasn't sure where to go, or if she fit in at all with these beautiful ladies. She drifted towards the windows, separating her hands and raising one to her neck.

As Cinderella touched the Twilight Gem, she relaxed. Her fairy godmother had turned it into a necklace and designed the rest of her dress to match it. The gem glowed with a life of its own, and Cinderella shone like the moon in her dress. Even if the prince didn't notice her, she thought she could enjoy the night dressed like a princess.

She didn't just owe this to her godmother; Axel had helped her all the way along, too. Perhaps he was like her godmother; a beneficial spirit that appeared when he was needed and left when his work was done.

Across the room, Prince Charming looked disinterestedly around. All the girls looked the same by now. They all wore the same clothes, the same make-up, and the same blank smiles. He hadn't seen anyone special yet.

A glimmer of pure light caught his eye, and he turned to look. Through the window, the last ray of sunlight disappeared below the horizon, and the light faded, revealing a girl dressed in white. The sun had been reflecting off of her necklace. Prince Charming watched her, transfixed. She looked so melancholy, but she was even more beautiful because of it. There was his princess.

Prince Charming weaved through the crowd to the girl in white and lifted a hand. "May I have this dance?"

Cinderella's face lit up, and she moved her hand from the Twilight Gem to his hand. "You may."

x 

Axel stepped into the new world, and was immediately choked.

He gagged and fell to his knees, holding his throat. The sunlight shuddered, filtered by a roiling sandstorm. Dust and dirt stung Axel's face as he struggled to get a breath of fresh air.

It was no use. Axel was too tired to fight. He collapsed in a sand dune, unconscious, and Soldier blindly clung to him with her helmet shut tight. She couldn't do anything to help. She just had to wait for the storm to let up and hope Axel was fine.

Some distance away, a man with goggles and a cloth wrapped around his face to keep the sand out spotted a black speck through the yellow sandstorm. He squinted at it, but couldn't make out any details. Curious, he headed towards it. Perhaps it was someone from Agrabah who had been caught in the storm. Foolish, but still useful.

He could force Aladdin into helping him in many ways if he had a civilian hostage.

xxxxx

The idea of Axel as a beneficial spirit amuses me no end. I suppose ignorance is bliss, in Cinderella's case. So! Any guesses who this new character is? (Don't worry, he'll be revealed next chapter.) Reviews, concrit, questions, flames, guesses, and all comments in general are welcome.


	9. Grecian Oasis x Arabic and Euclidean

Sigh, today's the first day of school. I decided to update before I have to go. Please enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Aladdin or any characters contained (including a character from the TV show; just Google him). Disney owns Aladdin. Everything else still applies.

xxxxx

Chapter IX

Grecian Oasis // Arabic and Euclidean

x

Axel woke up to the howling of the sandstorm, but at least he wasn't being buffeted by sand anymore. He opened his eyes and found that he was in some sort of tent. A pole went straight down from the top, and four more supported cloth between them that came down in the shape of a pyramid.

There was just enough room to let Axel sit up and Soldier stand. The cloth was a faded red, but it was still in perfect repair and very clean. The poles were polished bronze. It was a nice tent, Axel thought, at least as much as he knew about tents. So, who had put it over him?

One side of the tent was slit down the middle and tied closed with strips of cloth. The fabric walls billowed slightly in the wind, so Axel had to grab the cloth strips tightly to figure out how to untie them. "You go and see if there's anyone outside," Axel said. Soldier nodded. He untied the bottom two strips, let Soldier out, and held the flaps closed until she crawled back in.

"Second tent – big, noise inside. Go?"

"Sure. Let's see who decided to haul us out of the storm." Axel flipped his hood up, pulled it low to cover his eyes, and held it closed over his mouth and nose with one hand. He put his other hand on Soldier's head. "You lead. I can't see out there."

Soldier slit the fabric strips with her claws and Axel squeezed his eyes shut against the sudden burst of sand. Soldier headed straight for the larger tent, with her other half stumbling behind.

Soldier ducked, crawled under the second tent, and pulled Axel in with her. "Here."

Axel slowly opened his eyes, then took his hood off and stood up. Evidently, he and Soldier had gotten the bad tent.

This one was designed the same way as the first tent, except it was large enough to fit a small parking lot inside. The pole in the middle was tilted slightly, causing two poles to rise up a foot and a half above the sand. That was how Axel and Soldier had crawled in.

Across the tent, lined up against the side with both poles in the sand were several insectoid machines. Axel and Soldier walked towards them. They were gleaming gold, bronze, and copper. Up close, it was clear that they were motorized. Were they bug-shaped vehicles?

"Don't touch them, please. Thank you."

Soldier guiltily hopped back from a large beetle-shaped machine. Axel glanced across the room at the speaker. "And you are?"

A man with goggles was sitting cross-legged on a pillow in the sand, studying Soldier's staff. The goggle's lenses were telescoped out several inches to study the staff. "I believe I should be asking you that," he said haughtily, retracting the lenses, and the left one retracted, turning his goggles into a monocle. Axel wondered how he did that without touching them. "You were the one outside during a sandstorm."

"And you were the one who saved us. Doesn't the hero have to introduce himself?"

"I am no hero! You, my friend, are a _hos-tage_!" He stood and pointed one finger in the air dramatically, clutching Soldier's staff against his chest like a scepter. He was very skinny. "Assuming you are from Agrabah, that is. You are, aren't you?"

Axel resisted the urge to laugh. "Never heard of the place."

"Hmm. Then I suppose I did save you, didn't I?" He sighed. "Very well, then. I am Mechanicles, the most brilliant inventor in all the seven deserts and greatest of the great Greek geniuses!"

Apparently, Mechanicles had a bit of an ego problem. Axel had run into plenty of those. "I'm Axel, and this is Soldier." Soldier waved and Mechanicles wrinkled his nose slightly. "By the way, that's Soldier's staff you've got there."

"It what?" Mechanicles looked at the thing in his hand as if it had come alive, and tossed it in the sand. Soldier quickly stepped up to retrieve it. "Oh, disgusting," he muttered, rubbing his hand against his toga.

"How about a bargain?" Axel asked as Soldier skipped back to his side. "I won't tell anyone you're a hero, and you don't tell anyone I was saved by a man in a red dress."

"I am not a hero," Mechanicles protested. The other half of Axel's statement clicked. "This isn't a dress, it's a toga! And what exactly are you wearing, hmm?"

"A trench coat," Axel said.

"Humph. You're going to roast alive in the desert, wearing all black," Mechanicles said.

"I like the heat."

Soldier poked Axel's leg. "Roxas."

Somewhere on this world was someone who knew Sora. Axel had to find him if he ever wanted to get anywhere. This was as good a place to start as any. "So, you're from around here. What can you tell me about this Agrabah place?"

Mechanicles eyed Axel suspiciously. "It's the only piece of land between the rainforests and the ocean with a large supply of water, and the only city-state on this world. You haven't heard of it?"

"I'm from Mexico," Axel said with a shrug.

"I've never heard of it."

"I guess we're even."

Mechanicles crossed his arms. Axel could have sworn he was pouting.

"I'm looking for a friend that I heard passed through Agrabah," Axel said. "His name's Roxas. Sora to some. Ever heard of him?"

Mechanicles instantly tensed. "Why should I tell you?"

Axel glanced at Soldier. With a quick nod, she lunged behind Mechanicles and pinned his arms behind his back. Axel summoned a chakram and pressed a spike against Mechanicles's throat. "Because if you don't, you're the one who'll roast alive."

Mechanicles gulped. "Yes, I see your point. I'll tell you what I know." His voice kept getting higher. "But, it would be nice if you would let me go. Please?"

Axel didn't think Mechanicles looked very threatening. He nodded at Soldier to let go and lowered his chakram. Mechanicles glanced at the place on his arms where Soldier had grabbed him, grimacing. "I'm going to need another shower as soon as I get home," he mumbled.

Ignoring him, Axel said, "Okay, what do you know about Sora?"

Mechanicles glanced across the tent and under the gap. "The sandstorm stopped. Come. I have a safer place for us to discuss this."

What was wrong with the tent? Was Mechanicles trying to get to a place where he had an advantage over Axel? Probably, but if Axel and Soldier were in any danger they could escape to the realm of darkness. They could go along with Mechanicles for now. "Fine. What's the place?"

"My humble abode." Mechanicles grabbed the center pole of the tent and pushed a tiny button on the side. The outer poles spun around, winding up the fabric, and then all five poles retracted. In a few seconds, the tent looked like a regular-sized, closed umbrella. Mechanicles picked it up and stored it in a compartment in the back of the beetle machine. He sat on top of it and pushed a button on its head. The machine turned on and started hovering, along with all the others. "Get that tent and let's go."

"Right," Axel said. "Soldier?"

Soldier raised her staff, used thunder to incinerate the second tent, and hopped on another beetle behind Axel. "Tent taken care of."

Mechanicles blanched. "I would appreciate it if you wouldn't do that at my home." He flipped open the top of the beetle's head, revealing an assortment of buttons and levers. Axel looked at them all and felt that he could say with some confidence that most of them were purely for show. After all, how many levers did one machine need to run?

"Hold on to something," Mechanicles muttered, flipping the second lens out on his monocle-goggles again and shoving two levers forward. The insect machines took off.

Axel and Soldier clung to the beetle for dear life.

x

"Please don't vomit indoors," Mechanicles said after an idle glance at Axel's face. "I just finished mopping the garage this morning and I don't want to do it again until I'm scheduled to." He mopped the marble garage floor every three days.

The creature Axel had called Soldier hopped off the motorized beetle and stumbled around dizzily. At least, Mechanicles was fairly certain, there was no way it could throw up. "And don't let your pet walk around too much, Heartless are absolutely filthy."

Soldier gave Mechanicles an affronted look and climbed onto Axel's back.

Now, what was Mechanicles to do with his guests? He was in safe territory now. His motorized insects would attack on his command if he were threatened. But this could mess up his to-do list for the rest of the day. He still had to do the laundry, sweep the back porch and polish the columns, build a giant wasp for his attack on Agrabah next week, and dispose of the trash. If this took too long, he might have to put off sweeping the porch until tomorrow. No – hygiene was important. He'd just have to make the wasp later. That would certainly put him behind.

But this Axel was dangerous, and he was looking for Aladdin's off-world friend. However, that didn't necessarily mean Axel knew Aladdin, and Axel wasn't quite as pleasant towards strangers as Mechanicles would expect a friend of Aladdin to be. For now, Mechanicles had to be careful, but he would try to make an ally out of Axel.

"If you're past the point where you might be sick, follow me. Stay on the carpet, please." Mechanicles approached the door from the garage. It opened automatically, so he didn't have to leave fingerprints on the doorknob, and he started down the hall.

"'M not gonna puke," Axel muttered, stumbling off his motorized beetle and following Mechanicles. "But seriously, could you possibly have made any more tight turns on that thing? That was like riding the Mad Hatter's teacups on crack or something…"

"On the carpet!" Mechanicles repeated, noting the place where Axel had stepped off so he could come back and mop the tile for any grains of sand later.

Axel moved to the middle of the carpet, grumbling, "Yes, your highness." Mechanicles sighed exasperatedly. No one understood the importance of a neat environment. Not only was it physically attractive, it lessened the odds of disease. Nastiness causes disease. Once, Mechanicles had put aside an entire afternoon on his to-do list to prove it himself. He had tried to spend the afternoon in the Agrabah marketplace, and after merely an hour was so nauseous he had to give it up.

There were several doors on the right side of the hall; Mechanicles noted that Axel was glancing at them curiously. "Pay no mind to these doors. We are going to one on the end." Mechanicles's private living quarters, unfortunately, but he had never designed a place to meet guests. And he certainly didn't want Axel in the other rooms, which he kept securely locked at all times. These included various assembly rooms, storage for all the inventions he didn't keep in the garage, a room for working on and storing blueprints and scrolls, the restroom, the laundry room…

"Here we are," Mechanicles said. He flipped up his monocle long enough for the door to scan his eye. The door opened automatically and shut behind Axel.

"Now, how much do you already know about Sora's location?" Mechanicles asked.

Axel ignored the question and looked around the room. It was fairly Spartan, Mechanicles was proud to think. A narrow bed with no covers (temperature was controlled by a motorized fan), two cushioned benches, and a small table. Everything was plain white, beige, and red. In fact, the only decorations were four elaborate pillars, one in each corner, to remind Mechanicles of his homeland of Greece. But his father had traveled off world to do business with Agrabah, married a native woman, and died before he told Mechanicles how to return to Greece. Still, no matter. Mechanicles would build a machine to take himself home, and he would use the ignorant Agrabah population as slave labor to do it.

"So, can we make ourselves at home?" Axel asked, gesturing to the benches.

A Heartless on Mechanicles's furniture?! "Hopefully, no," Mechanicles said flatly. "Once again, what do you know? And what precisely is it you want to know?" If Mechanicles learned Axel's motives beforehand, he'd be able to assess how best to manipulate him into assisting in a takeover of Agrabah. He might not even need the giant wasp.

"Why should I tell you anything?" Axel demanded. "Aren't we here for me to ask you the questions?"

"I can't say anything unless I know what exactly you want to know about Sora, now can I?"

"Afraid of saying something wrong?" Axel snorted. "Fine then. I could care less about Sora, but he knows Roxas. If the name doesn't ring a bell, don't worry. I'm no friend of Sora but he's not exactly an enemy. All I want is his location. Satisfied?"

Hadn't Axel mentioned a Roxas before? Well, at least Axel didn't appear to be on Aladdin's side. "All I know is that Sora is the friend of an enemy. Beyond that, no details. Though I've heard rumors about his abilities."

Axel sighed. "So you don't know where he is?"

"No." Ah, inspiration hit. Mechanicles had a blueprint for a machine tucked away somewhere that would be perfect for Axel to help him with. "But! I know someone who does"

"Really?" Axel's face lit up. "Who?"

"Aladdin. Unfortunately, my enemy, and I doubt he'd condescend to speak to anyone but his precious 'friends' about Sora or anything else." That was good. Paint Aladdin as the villain and Axel would be more likely to help…

"So, he's one of those heroic types?"

So much for that plan. Mechanicles had to hope Axel was a kindred spirit.

"Ah, yes. He is. One of those people that go around doing ridiculously noble deeds, foiling what they personally perceive to be wicked, and making a grand name for themselves by acting 'selflessly' and yet never taking any true damage."

Axel wrinkled his nose. "And shoving speeches about good and evil down everyone's throats until anybody with common sense would want to knock them out with a brick. Except they never do."

"Precisely! That's Aladdin."

Axel made a gagging sound that Mechanicles found rather crude, but at least it meant he had Axel's support. "In that case, not a guy I'd like to chat with. I'm default evil. A Nobody in a light universe."

"And a Greek on an Arabian world," Mechanicles said morosely. He was surprised at how easily he understood Axel. They were both outcasts, weren't they? "But you don't have to talk to Aladdin, because I have an invention that can do that for you. It's a machine that can probe a person's thoughts and display then outside the mind. You can see everything Aladdin knows about Sora without having to actually meet him."

Axel crossed his arms. He looked like he was considering it. "What's the catch?"

"It needs a fuel source," Mechanicles said. "Thunder or Fire magic. I can harvest a little bit from wild Heartless, mainly Crimson Jazz and Fiery Globes, but it's so inefficient. And disgusting. However, you appear to have a staff, so I presume you have a few magic abilities."

"Actually, that's Soldier's staff," Axel said. The Heartless on Axel's back raised the staff in salute.

Axel summoned his wheel-shaped weapon again. To Mechanicles's surprise the tips lit on fire by themselves. "But I can give a lot more Fire than any Heartless. What do you think?"

"Perfect!" Mechanicles was fairly confident he hadn't squealed like a girl on that word. He was working on that. "Now, we just need to build the–"

"What are you getting out of this?" Axel interrupted.

"Me?" Mechanicles thought. He could come up with no lie that sounded better than the truth. "I learn Aladdin's weaknesses, of course. As well as the weaknesses of everyone and everything close to him." Mechanicles tried to suppress an evil laugh but quickly gave in to the urge.

Axel studied Mechanicles with raised eyebrows. "Not bad."

"Thank you." Mechanicles wasn't sure if Axel meant the plan or the maniacal laughter, but it never hurt to be polite.

"So, I suppose you will want to see the blueprint?" Mechanicles asked. He had an ally now; he could show off.

"Sure." Axel pushed off the pillar he'd been leaning on (Mechanicles hadn't even noticed Axel lean on it, now he'd have to add cleaning it again to his to-do list – urgh, Heartless filth!) and followed Mechanicles into the hall again.

"On the carpet."

"Fine."

Mechanicles counted off the doors they passed. "Of course, I haven't actually built it yet. That would be impractical without a fuel source."

"Right."

"So there's a slight chance of some errors in the blueprint that I'll need to work out."

"I could help."

Mechanicles rolled his eyes. "You don't have the experience necessary. I am the only one who knows anything about this kind of machinery."

"Don't flatter yourself. Where I come from, teenagers can make small vehicles work."

Mechanicles stopped dead. "You lie!"

"Want me to tell you how to take a motorcycle apart and put it back together again? I remember how to do that from before I became a Nobody. I don't remember much, but I know some stuff about how machines work."

There was technology like that elsewhere in the universe? And it wasn't even from the Greek geniuses, because Axel clearly was not Greek. "I don't suppose you can understand Arabian numerals _and_ Euclidean geometry, too?" A combination of the two greatest, most diverse forms of mathematics that Mechanicles could think of.

Axel shrugged. "Those are the only kind of numbers I know about. And I passed geometry, but I'm not doing any proofs."

This was astounding. Axel was more than an ally. He could be a fellow inventor. And he was offering to help Mechanicles get rid of Aladdin. It was like Zeus himself had sent down help. Suddenly, the world seemed a lot less lonely. "Axel, I believe this could be the beginning of a bea-yoo-tiful alliance."

Axel gave Mechanicles a weird look. "If you say so."

Mechanicles reached the door to his scroll room, scanned his eye and fingers, entered his code on a number pad, and let a stranger willingly enter this private chamber for the first time in his life.

x

Abu and Iago stared in silence at the wrecked structure in front of them. "I know birds, and I'm pretty sure this isn't one. I think. Right?" Iago asked uncertainly.

Abu chattered a negative, shaking his head.

"Well, we saw it fall out of the sky, and we aren't crazy. Err, are we?"

Abu shrugged uncertainly.

"Of course we aren't! So, it fell out of the sky. What is it?"

It was big and white, and silver, and green and purple in some places. I looked like metal, but not a familiar kind. It was definitely broken, and there was some kind of fluid starting to bubble on the rocks underneath it. It looked a lot like one of Mechanicles's inventions, but somehow the design was different. Iago and Abu couldn't tell quite how, since they had never seen another kind of machine to compare it to, but it was definitely different. For one thing, it wasn't shaped like a bug. Besides, if it were Mechanicles's, the fuel spill would have been cleaned already.

"We'd better not tell anyone about this," Iago finally said. Abu gave him a shocked look. "Whaaat? Hey, do you know what this is? Bargaining material! We offer someone info on this thing for a price, and they give us anything we want. It's perfect! And for once, it's legal."

Abu glared at Iago.

"Trust me on this," Iago said, taking off. "Someday, this will pay off big time."

Abu sighed and followed Iago back to Agrabah.

xxxxx

Well, new character's been revealed. (Probably wasn't who anyone was expecting, either.) Please review! Praise, concrit, questions, flames, and comments, signed and anon, everything welcome.


	10. Grecian Oasis x Sand in the Wires

I am sinfully late in getting this up. Please forgive me; I've been editing a novel to send out. (Wow, that sounds like such a lie, doesn't it? If it's ever accepted I'll mention it here so you'll believe me, haha...) Anyway, enjoy chapter 10! First time I've reached double digits in chapters on FFnet, I'm so proud. 

Disclaimer: Same old, same old. I own nada.

xxxxx

Chapter X

Grecian Oasis // Sand in the Wires

**x**

Axel stepped out of the darkness and onto a balcony of the Agrabah palace. He surveyed his surroundings; to one side, the oh-so-gorgeous walls of the palace and to the other, a simply breathtaking view of the city itself. Neither of which interested Axel in the least. The city was too far away to do him any good, and although he remembered that when he'd had a heart he had been impressed with such displays of opulent wealth as the palace, he was impressed no more. Now, he was here on business.

He cupped his hand around a tiny microphone next to his mouth, both to help muffle his voice and to block out the thin wind rushing around the high palace towers. "Okay, I'm in. Can you see me?" Axel waved over the side of the balcony.

"You're on the balcony already?" Mechanicles said through the tiny speaker in Axel's ear, sounding surprised. "Travel by darkness is that fast? Are you sure you're in the right place... Oh, stop waving, you moron. Anyone could see you!"

"That's the point, Mister Great Greek Genius. I was trying to get your attention." Axel lowered his arm and leaned against the balcony railing. Even though he couldn't see Mechanicles from here, it somehow seemed appropriate to peer into the darkness where he should have been. Axel was more accustomed to addressing the darkness than to addressing nothing. "Okay, now what?"

"Go inside," Mechanicles said patiently, as if he'd said this a dozen times before (and he had), "and kidnap Aladdin."

"Oh, it's _really_ just that easy?" Axel said sarcastically. "I just waltz inside, grab the first guy I see, and waltz back out?"

"Precisely," Mechanicles said. "That balcony you're on connects to Princess Jasmine's, where Aladdin sleeps. I don't believe they're even properly wed yet." He said this with the obvious haughty disgust of a self-righteous virgin. "His Genie will probably be asleep as well, but if he isn't I'm sure you can retreat before you're caught."

"So, how do I recognize Aladdin?" Axel asked, edging towards the curtain covering the balcony.

"Hmm, let's see..." Mechanicles mused. "He's a little shorter than you, is dark-skinned – well, that's only typical on _this_ world – messy hair, perpetual filth, and is _quite_ well built."

Well-built? Well-built meant attractive. Axel attempted to restrain himself, and quite gladly failed. "Mechanicles?"

"Yes?"

"Are you sure you're not attracted to..."

"No! For the last time, no! It's just a fact, understand? Aladdin is well built. That's it."

"Okay, sheesh. Just checking."

"If your Heartless hugs me one more time, I'm going to start asking about your preferences, Nobody."

Axel and Mechanicles had been working together for a little over three weeks. By now, Mechanicles knew that Axel and Soldier were the Nobody and Heartless of one person. He also knew what Axel and Soldier thought about hygiene in general, and thus had forced them to start taking daily showers. In return, they made sure to track mud all over his nicely polished floor. It was quite a challenge for them to find mud in the middle of the desert, but Axel and Soldier were proud of their work.

Axel dropped his voice to a whisper and flipped his hood up. "Fine. Short, dark, and handsome. I'll get him and contact you when I'm out of the palace." Without giving Mechanicles a chance to respond, Axel took off his headset and slipped behind the curtain.

The room was smaller than Axel would have suspected for a princess's chamber. It was big, but still smaller than expected. There were a few chairs with so many pillow padding them that there may as well not have been a chair underneath at all, as well as a couple of dressers, a full-length mirror, and a narrow bed on a woven rug in the middle of the room. Axel walked silently towards the bed. Only a girl, the princess. So, she didn't actually sleep with Aladdin. What wonderful restraint these two lovers showed, Axel thought. They were missing out. So, where was Aladdin?

Axel scanned the room and spied a man sprawled out on one of the over-padded chairs, asleep. He studied him. Slightly shorter than Axel, strong but not bulky, dark skin, hair that looked like it had been through a tornado... Unfortunately, Mechanicles was right. Aladdin was well built. And attractive. The heroes got all the good stuff, didn't they?

Axel approached him soundlessly, gliding like a phantom around a pillow that a parrot and a monkey were sleeping on. He wished idly that Soldier had come with him, so he could feel properly pleased at the sinister effect he had in his Organization coat. He stopped in front of Aladdin, considering the best way to abduct him. He didn't have to be quiet about the kidnapping, or do it with any skill. All he had to do was hold on to Aladdin long enough to get him into the realm of darkness and out again. It didn't even matter if someone saw him; no one would connect a tall, redheaded man in Organization XIII's uniform with Mechanicles. They'd never find Axel.

He grabbed Aladdin by the throat. Aladdin's eyes flew open, but Axel had already opened a portal to the darkness with his free hand and yanked them both inside.

"Hey! What're—" Aladdin twisted out of Axel's grip and tried to run, but hesitated, lost at the sight of the realm of darkness. Good thing he was, or Axel might have had to resort to nastier methods to subdue him.

"Now now, be a good boy for us, why don't you?" Axel opened another portal and shoved Aladdin through, and sealed it. He then left the darkness himself from a second portal and appeared in a room that was empty except for a cage, now holding a confused Aladdin. "Isn't that better?" he said, smirking.

"Let me out!" Aladdin shouted, grabbing the bars. Axel lifted one chakram and set the bars on fire. Aladdin fell back with a yelp, and the fire moved inside to form a second flaming cage. The magic-based generators that Mechanicles had made were working smoothly. Axel had known they would; they had already proved to serve well as Mechanicles's computers' power source. Once Axel added the fuel, the generators around the cage would sustain it nearly perpetually. Magic didn't disappear as easily as regular energy. The inner cage would be nearly impossible to turn off without another magical being's intervention.

"Sorry, Al, I can't do that," Axel said with a shrug. "We don't always get what we want. Me, I've got wants too, but do I expect you to do anything about that? Of course not."

"Then what do you want?" Aladdin demanded.

He probably fully intended to try to help Axel get whatever he wanted, too. He could see it in Aladdin's eyes. That must be why he and Sora knew each other. "I don't want anything from you," he said.

"Fine! Maybe I can help anyway!" Aladdin said.

"I want a raison d'être," Axel said. "I want a reason to exist."

He and Aladdin stared at each other for a long moment, the latter looking utterly confused and the former refusing to reveal his own confusion. He didn't know why he'd said that, except that he supposed it was true, in a way, for all Nobodies. Wasn't it?

But Axel didn't need that, he had his heart back. This lack was just because they weren't fixed up properly yet. So he could just keep wanting that raison d'être, it wasn't going to come. All he needed to do now was find Roxas. Between his heart and his best friend, he'd be fine.

With a simple burst of fire, Axel flung Aladdin against the fiery inner cage. He fell to the ground, unconscious and slightly singed. Axel turned away and put his headset back on. "Got him. The street rat is now a caged rat. Tell Soldier to bring you back. We'll get started tomorrow morning."

x 

Mechanicles surveyed the unconscious form of Aladdin once more, still almost beside himself with giddiness. "Genius," he said again. "Pure brilliance. Look at that!"

"Yeah, I know," Axel said with a sigh. He'd heard this several times. At least Mechanicles could monologue to him and not to someone on Aladdin's side; sometimes when he desperately wanted someone to understand just how intelligent he truly was, he had to explain the processes of his plans so that others could comprehend the great mind behind his ideas. He needed someone to respect him for the genius he was. Unfortunately, oftentimes the only ones to listen to him were the ones trying to foil his plans.

"Aladdin can't pass through the fire, obviously," Mechanicles said, "and since it's not Genie magic, his Genie can't do much more than throw water on it unless he wants to mix magic types – Nobody magic and Genie magic – which is too dangerous a blend for even him to attempt. And now, we've got Aladdin in the perfect position to get any information we want about Agrabah!"

"We get info on Sora first," Axel said. "That was the bargain."

Mechanicles frowned. "Yes, of course." He wanted to think that Axel and Soldier were helping him because the three of them were truly a team, but he knew that this was only a temporary arrangement. As soon as Axel got what he needed, he was gone. It was too bad. Mechanicles had gotten used to finally having a friend around.

"So, should I set up the brain-reading stuff in the computer room?" Axel asked. Mechanicles nodded, and Axel disappeared into the darkness.

"I just hope this works," Mechanicles muttered to himself, or perhaps to Soldier. She cocked her head at him, so he kept talking. "I am certain that this machine will be capable of reading Aladdin's thoughts and displaying them outside his mind. But..." Mechanicles trailed off, drifting into his own musings.

His computer displays could render sound and sight, but would that be adequate to show all of the complex layers of thoughts and emotions within a human mind? Probably not; but would the things that couldn't be comprehended by the computers get filtered out and tossed aside, or would they confuse the message and scramble it up like sand in the wires?

And how could Mechanicles use what he received to find what he wanted? He had a machine to read a mind, fine, but there was so much to a mind, so many instincts and memories and thoughts and senses. Could the computer flip to the index of Aladdin's mind and find the subject he wanted to know about? Would there be a tab for Sora that they could choose and look at a bunch of neat little articles about him? Would they find what they wanted at all?

Soldier nudged Mechanicles's leg. He jerked it away from the filthy Heartless, but realized she just wanted him to speak again. "But," he said, finishing his earlier thought, "I don't know if I'll be able to understand what I see."

Soldier nodded sympathetically and gave Mechanicles a pitying hug around the knees, unintentionally adding another shower to his to-do list. Axel had told Mechanicles that Soldier didn't have any more than a rudimentary mind, so she had to think vicariously through Axel. There were probably many things Soldier didn't understand. Mechanicles suddenly realized he liked Soldier a bit more for her lacking intelligence. She made a good henchman.

Axel appeared inside the cage with Aladdin. "I've got everything hooked up," Axel said as he fastened their prisoner's ankles and wrists to clamps on the concrete floor. Mechanicles had wanted some sort of surgery table to clamp Aladdin to, but Axel had vetoed the idea. He said that the best way to keep Aladdin controlled was to keep whatever was holding him simple. Fewer chances for something to mess up, for his friends to find a small flaw in a large design. Mechanicles had reluctantly agreed. "The computers are on and ready to run."

Aladdin began to stir. Axel gagged him with an old polishing rag of Mechanicles's before he could say anything. He made a disgusted face at the taste. "I can hook up the sensors now and meet you in the computer room," Axel said.

"Good," Mechanicles said. He was impressed at how efficient Axel could be, even when tying up someone and talking about forcibly reading their mind. But emotionless efficiency was the hallmark of Nobodies, wasn't it? "Do that. I'll refrain from running the program until you arrive."

Axel nodded and began attaching the sensors to Aladdin's head. Aladdin flinched with each one. They were short, narrow needles, sharp enough to pierce the skin and stick in the surface of the skull to detect brainwaves from inside. Each needle had a wire trailing from the end that eventually came together and fed into the top of a bronze cube on the ground. This was the transmitter that sent input to the computers themselves.

Mechanicles left the Aladdin's confinement room and went into the hall. He only had to go one room over to reach the computers; they had been placed next to each other for this project. Golden computer monitors covered the walls and sat on the floor around the perimeter of the darkened room, with white projections of screens hovered an inch in front of the blank monitors. Mechanicles looked around the room, pleased to see all the monitors working.

Axel had told Mechanicles a couple of weeks ago about the concept of a computer – that it was like a mechanical abacus, that it could be taught to turn numbers into letters, then into pixels, and finally into virtual space and sound – and he had fallen utterly in love with the idea. It hadn't taken him long to figure out how to create computers and then modify them for the purposes of this project. Axel said they ran like a dial-up connection, which didn't seem to be a compliment, but Mechanicles didn't know what that meant so it didn't bother him at this point. Besides, he'd said it in a way that meant he was probably exaggerating greatly, so if Mechanicles ever learned what dial-up was then he would probably disagree.

Mechanicles walked to the middle of one wall. It had the only keyboard in the room, with keys for the full Greek alphabet and a collection of other commands to the side. He tapped a blank bar within the commands to wake the computers up. The floating white screens vanished, and letters of light appeared as Mechanicles typed.

"Project Mind Reader – Standby," Mechanicles muttered as he typed, "until Proceed order." He punctuated the command with a tap of the enter key. "Objective – translate and render input visually and audibly as accurately as possible." Mechanicles paused. "Any undecipherable data to be discarded." Perhaps that would keep the information from getting too complex. "Input – received from Heartless transmitter 27."

Mechanicles had learned about the Heartless' ability to share thoughts without speech, and had used it to create various communication devices with Heartless hearts (a contradictory term, Mechanicles thought) contained inside them. These computers had them, as did the radio headsets he and Axel had used to talk to each other during their kidnap of Aladdin. The Heartless hearts linked the machines together. Axel described it as a morbid radio system, which meant nothing to Mechanicles.

He pushed a key labeled "Activate Standby." The floating screens turned into blue Xs.

Apparently, Soldier had followed Mechanicles into the room. She started running around the dark room, waving her claws and staff through the glowing Xs and watching them eagerly as they didn't change at all. They were mere mirages. Mechanicles wondered if Soldier understood that.

Mechanicles watched Soldier play, resisting the urge to pace, wondering how long Axel was going to take. All he had to do was hook up the sensors. Maybe Aladdin had started to struggle? Maybe Genie had appeared, and the cage wasn't enough to hold him back. Maybe Genie was coming in right now to finish Mechanicles off... The door opened.

"All right, Aladdin's completely wired. Let's get started."

His relief was overshadowed by a new source of panic. "You came through the door after sticking needles in his _hair?_" Mechanicles screeched. "Think of the oils on your hands! Th-the dirt, the grime..."

"Relax." Axel pulled a small bottle out of his pocket and waved it in front of Mechanicles's face. "This is hand sanitizer," he said patiently. "Portable soap that doesn't need water and dries off by itself." He pushed the bottle into Mechanicles's hand. "Here. Maybe you'll be less OCD with this."

"Oh. I see. That's... useful." Mechanicles stuck the bottle into one of the pouches he'd folded into his toga. Had Axel gone to the trouble of getting the hand sanitizer just for Mechanicles? He was oddly touched. No one had done anything nice for him in years. Sometimes he'd said "thank you" to others for no real reason during those years, out of habit that etiquette demanded of him, but now that he meant it he felt too awkward to say the words. He hoped Axel wouldn't mind. "Now, shall we begin?"

"All right." Axel leaned against the closed door, grinning. "Let's get this show on the road."

Mechanicles turned to the keyboard and, with a dramatic flourish, pushed the "Proceed" key.

The blue Xs dissolved and each screen burst into light. Tiny images zoomed forward, filling the room with a gigantic hologram.

Mechanicles and Axel gaped. Tiny, layered images, so thick only a few could be seen, formed two curved walls. Both were dominated by a few larger, shifting images, surreally animated. One wall was filled with distorted pictures of Mechanicles, golden insects, and large prison chambers; the other with Genie fighting Mechanicles's robotic insects, Jasmine crying, and Mechanicles standing triumphantly over the rubble of the palace. But the images changed quickly, and now none of the ones that were there a moment ago remained.

Images and sounds drifted inside the space between the walls, of needles and the cage and "I can't feel my legs" and Heartless; and then "I wish someone was here to help" and keys and Jafar and a cave full of treasure called up from one wall; and then "The Heartless are here, Sora might come back" and a spiky-haired boy fighting against Mechanicles and sea of Heartless and Jafar taking Jasmine and Genie standing by the boy were summoned from the other wall. Every image and sound was tied to another through an unending web of light, the light itself composed of fragments of images. Mechanicles followed the flashing lights as well as he could, even removing his monocle to see them with his own eyes. They whirled by like a sandstorm of mirages, rapid and insubstantial.

He felt something. Mechanicles jumped, surprised, and looked down. It was just Soldier tugging on his toga. She pointed at one of the walls. Now, images of Aladdin's monkey grabbing a jewel dominated the wall, but they soon faded away to show Princess Jasmine... oh, great Zeus, Mechanicles hadn't wanted to see that.

"Don't get any ideas. That is very unhygienic," Mechanicles muttered. Soldier shook her head and pointed again at the wall.

"She says that's Aladdin's memories," Axel said, and snorted. "Guess they didn't wait for marriage after all." Soldier nodded and pointed to the other wall, which was again showing the spiky-haired boy doing battle with Mechanicles. "And that's what Aladdin imagines is in the future. The middle is what he's thinking right now, and where the past and future are conscious thought."

"Your Heartless said that?" Mechanicles asked skeptically. "But how? If even I can't comprehend this, how could a mere Heartless?"

"Why are you asking me?" Axel asked. "Maybe brains make sense to someone that doesn't have one, I don't know."

"An interesting theory..." Mechanicles said thoughtfully. He studies the hologram a moment longer. Soldier's explanation made sense now. Funny, Mechanicles had imagined that Aladdin's thoughts would move much slower than this.

"Think it's time to start messing with his thoughts?" Axel asked.

"May I go first?"

Axel shrugged. "It's your invention. Be my guest. But we gotta find out about Sora eventually."

"Very well," Mechanicles sighed. He pushed a key marked "Speaker." A microphone rose from the keyboard.

Mechanicles grabbed the speaker. "Aladdin! How nice of you to drop in." He watched the mirage-like thoughts change. "Now, your opinion of me can't be _that_ bad, can it?" Another change. "I am not just ranting. I know precisely what I am talking about, thank you very much." The last words echoed and distorted in the thoughts – "_thank_ you _very much_" – and a new, decidedly less masculine picture of Mechanicles appeared, supported by memories of Jasmine and Iago speaking to Aladdin. Axel almost collapsed laughing. "It's not true!" Mechanicles shouted. "Why does everyone think that? I don't care if the princess and the parrot do agree, it's still a lie."

Aladdin's thoughts quickly became panicky. Mechanicles could hear his confusion. "How did he know that? What is he doing? Is this a trick? How did he do that? What's happening? Where's Genie, Carpet, Abu, Iago, Jasmine? I need to go really bad."

"Oh, do try to hold it in," Mechanicles said. "You aren't quite an animal, you know. We'll give you a bucket or something in a while. You don't need to go that badly."

"How does he know that? Maybe I should go anyway, that would disgust Mechanicles. Who's this 'we'?"

"I believe that's your cue," Mechanicles muttered, stepping away from the microphone. Axel nodded and took his place. He seemed eager, Mechanicles noted.

"Hey Al, remember me?" Axel said, studying the thoughts. "No, no, not him, no... you haven't seen those guys in ten years at least. Think recent. No... What's up with the freak with the bone arm? Hey now, I didn't want to know all that! Okay, think about the past twenty-four hours." The images flailed wildly, until a single faint memory of a figure in a trench coat appeared. "Bingo. You got me. You put on the wrong face, though. The name's Axel. Red hair and a lot older than that kid you're picturing. Ex-Organization XIII and the last thing you'll ever see if you try to escape." They watched as a blurry image formed, the name "Axel" was attached, and a few tendrils of light grew off it to attach to other memories of cloaked figures. It looked like one of Namine's crayon drawings. "Good enough. Now, let's get down to business."

Mechanicles crossed his arms and looked at his feet morosely. This was what Axel had come here for. As soon as he got his information, he would leave this world, taking Soldier and his amazing foreign technology with him. And Mechanicles would lose the only two friends he'd ever had.

Soldier had made a wreck of several of Mechanicles's rooms, and Axel had laughed. Axel had completely decimated most of Mechanicles's carefully organized schedules by forcibly dragging him away from them or by doing them himself – badly. Once, Soldier had gotten in trouble in the desert and returned with over a hundred warring Heartless and Nobodies in her wake. Axel had blown up several canisters of oil with erratic bursts of fire.

Yet, they had always eventually helped clean up their mistakes. Mechanicles had grown accustom to the disorder, and didn't know now if he would be the same when it left and he was alone with his stark tidiness. He was fairly certain he didn't have the power to create any form of chaos on his own.

At least Mechanicles's home would be clean again. Right?

"So, Al, ever heard of a kid named Sora? The Keyblade? Good, good. How 'bout Roxas? No. Well, Sora then. He's been to a bunch of worlds. Maybe you've heard of some." Axel frowned. Aladdin could only conjure pictures of stars when he tried to think about other worlds. Such an ignorant concept of the universe, Mechanicles thought. "Well, you know what he does. He fights Heartless. He's a good kid, right? Sometimes he'll even go after a Nobody. He's got some buddies, too, Donald and Goofy. And Genie, I see! I'm sure Genie's been to other worlds, perhaps he's described them." No change. Whenever Axel mentioned a familiar word or name, an entire web of new memories appeared. Axel could read the memories and mention the ones that looked promising to send Aladdin's thoughts that way, but whenever the concept of other worlds came up, all that appeared was stars. Axel couldn't find a single useful thing about where Sora might be now. Mechanicles was glad.

The thoughts suddenly became uniformly blue and humanoid. A sound, clearer than the others – one Aladdin was actually hearing in real life– echoed in the computer room. "Al! Oh man, I thought I'd never find you. Jasmine's been so worried, and Carpet hasn't said a word since you left. Okay, so he wasn't chatty to begin with, but still! It's great to see you!" Aladdin's thoughts for the future became much brighter.

Mechanicles bit his lip and flipped his monocle back down, and then flipped out the second lens to convert the monocle into goggles. His eyes would very likely need the protection. He hadn't expected Genie to discover their location so soon. "You can hold him back, can't you?"

"I can do more than that." Axel flipped up his hood. "We'll call this a test run of the security system. Soldier, you know what to do."

Soldier raised her staff and grabbed on to the bottom of Mechanicles's toga, ready to defend them both. Mechanicles cringed but resisted the urge to shake the filthy claw off.

"I'll be back in five." Axel disappeared, leaving Soldier and Mechanicles to wait.

Mechanicles hoped Axel wouldn't get beaten too badly.

xxxxx

Another battle coming up! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please review. Let me know what you think so far. I'd particularly appreciate it if you have any thoughts on Mechanicles, since for anyone that doesn't remember him from the Aladdin show, he might as well be a fancharacter. Any suggestions, opinions, or thoughts on anything so far or on upcoming events will be appreciated. Thank you!


	11. Grecian Oasis x How to Douse a Firewall

Happy New Year! I tend to make a terrible habit of updating this fic way later than I should, don't I? Ah, well. Anyway, I'm pleased to say that in the course of editing this chapter, it ended up twice as long as the rough draft – so hopefully it'll hold you all until the next chapter! And now, presenting the battle with Genie.

Disclaimer: Nothing's changed since the last disclaimer. Move along...

xxxxx

Chapter XI

Grecian Oasis // How to Douse a Firewall

x

"Did you want something?" Axel asked dryly, stepping out of the darkness and sealing it behind him.

The Genie and Aladdin looked up at him, freezing as if they'd been caught in the middle of a jailbreak – which, basically, they had. Axel was satisfied to see that Aladdin was still securely bound and gagged in his cage with the circuit of fire uninterrupted. The Genie had broken several of the cage's metal bars, but he was scorched black from trying to stop the second, internal cage of fire.

"Uh, yes, actually," Genie said amicably as he stood up, turning off his blowtorch (how would that help him turn off a cage of fire, anyway?) and letting it poof into nothingness. "You see, Al here is my buddy, and I kind of need him out of at cage."

Axel nodded thoughtfully. "You don't say," he said, matching Genie's neutrality. Surely, he must have guessed by now that Axel was the reason Aladdin was locked up. Why hadn't Axel been attacked yet?

"And whoever made this magic cage here did it with some really strong fire magic. Even I can't get through it," Genie said.

"Hmm. Tough." They might as well have been talking about the weather, Axel thought, for all the tension in this discussion.

"Sure is. So, I need someone to get through the fire."

"How about that."

Axel watched, amused – at least he thought he _would_ be amused, if Soldier had been in the room – as Genie looked at the fire again. "It seems to be Nobody magic," he said. "Nasty business, those Nobodies." He created a water hose to shoot at the fire cage. No effect. "See, having nearly-phenomenal semi-cosmic powers means that I can do almost _everything_, right? But Nobodies, they're nothing – and I don't mean that as an insult, but that just means they're the exact opposite of 'everything'."

"I see," Axel said, not pointing out that he already knew most of this. He glanced at Aladdin, who had started struggling against his bonds and staring between Axel and Genie. Oh, if only he could tell Genie what he knew. Axel smirked to himself.

"Which means," Genie continued obliviously, "that if I try to use any big magic against this Nobody magic, then it'd be like combining matter and anti-matter. Have you ever seen what that can do?"

"Can't say as I have," Axel said.

"Well, I have," Genie said. "And so did the dinosaurs, unfortunately." The hose disappeared with a poof of cloud and rainbow sparkles; some of the sparkles hit Axel's fire and turned black. Genie summoned an enormous, reptilian skull and held it up in one hand. "Alas, poor Rexy," he lamented. "I knew him well. A fellow of infinite hunger, of most excellent fangs..."

Axel paid no attention to the monologue. In the few minutes he'd been here, he'd seen Genie with a blowtorch, a hose, and a skull, all of which he'd apparently summoned himself out of nothingness. Mechanicles was right; Genie would be a difficult opponent. And Genie was right as well, that Nobody magic and Genie magic were a very dangerous mix. Otherwise, Genie himself would have simply made the cage of fire vanish. Instead, he was resorting to using his magic to summon magic-free items that might help him, and then using those items against the fire. Axel and Genie wouldn't be able to fight each other directly.

Genie had stopped speaking while Axel thought and was looking at Aladdin, who was still struggling furiously. "What is it?" he said. Aladdin jerked his head towards Axel, eyes wide and muffled sounds coming from behind his gag. Genie frowned, and then eyed Axel suspiciously. "Say," he said slowly. "Can you get through this stuff?"

Axel glanced at Aladdin, who was looking rather frantic, and then smiled slowly. "Well, wouldn't you know it – I can!"

If anything, Aladdin looked even more frantic. He was clearly intelligent; he knew Axel was up to something.

"Oh, that's great!" Genie stood up, shook off the soot coating him, and stretched both arms above his head to get the kinks out of his back.

Axel stood still with arms crossed. He wasn't sure if Genie really was this trusting, or if he was just a good actor. But if it were the latter, why hadn't he attacked yet?

"So, would you get Al out?" Genie asked. "Please?"

Axel pretended to think over the request, and then shrugged. "Nah."

Genie groaned. "Aww. Pretty please?"

"No."

"Oh, fine. Be that way." Genie turned back to the cage, eyed the fire bars, and conjured a giant block of ice.

As he leaned back to chunk the ice at the bars, Axel swung one arm back himself as if to throw something. In mid-swing, one chakram appeared, and he threw it at the ice block like a discus. It shattered the ice, spun back around like a boomerang, and Axel caught it easily. "Ooh, tough luck," he said. "It turns out you're not allowed to do that! Nice try, though."

"Do you have a better idea?" Genie asked, crossing his arms and glaring at Axel. His legs had changed into a tail and he was floating two feet taller than Axel. By now, he was just acting out the part of the trusting fool, Axel could tell that – Genie was ready for a fight. Perhaps he had been all along.

"Yeah, I do," Axel said, and summoned his second chakram. "I think you should get outta here." He ignited the chakrams and leaned back, swinging the chakrams loosely at his sides, prepared to either ignite them for an offense or to hold them defensively, all depending on Genie's next move. This could be a very risky fight; Axel wasn't going to be responsible for, as Genie put it, a matter/anti-matter explosion.

"Oh yeah?" Twenty identical Genies formed. Together they said, "You and what army?" Various weapons appeared in each Genie's hands. Glancing at some of them, Axel figured Genie _must_ have gone off world. He was pretty sure he saw one of the Genie clones holding a gun designed like Xigbar's.

Mechanicles hadn't been kidding when he'd said Genie was powerful; if he attacked with all the items he'd summoned, he wouldn't even need any more magic to win a battle. But if Genie wanted to take an alternative approach to this fight, then Axel could fight fire with Firaga.

Axel bent his knees and shifted his weight to the balls of his feet. He pulled fire from the hot metal of his chakrams into himself, and held it in his chest where his heart should be. He'd saved Sora this way, by sucking the fire into himself, letting it grow, and then, releasing it as hard as possible – sacrificing himself at the same time. But today, Axel had no intent to die.

"Who needs an army?" Axel sneered. "Unless you want your brave troops to go the way of the dinos, I suggest you dismiss them now." He held the fire a moment longer, giving Genie a moment to think, and then slowly pushed it down. Flames spilled from his feet, spreading outward to coat the floor and burst upward along the walls. The false Genies popped like bubbles before the Nobody fire could touch them, while the original leaped into the air, fanning his burned tail.

"Whoa, buddy!" Genie said, shocked – and was he scared? "You could have killed us all with that trick!"

"Wouldn't be the first time I've died," Axel said. "I'd say it's at least the third."

"Oh, so now you think you're the tough anti-hero, do you?" Genie said. "Sorry to tell you this, pal, but we've already our own, and you've got him locked up right here." He crossed his arms. "So now what, wise guy? I can't beat you and you can't beat me, but Al's got plenty of other friends who can beat you just fine. And heck, if they can't, I'll have you know that I happen to be in close association with a certain young man who specializes in taking Nobody yahoos like you down."

Axel's eyes widened. "You mean Sora?" Completely forgetting about Aladdin, Axel took another step towards Genie, pointing a chakram at him threateningly. "That's right, you traveled with him, didn't you? Tell me! Where is he now? Where did Sora go after the Organization fell?"

"Yeah, like I'm gonna tell you," Genie said. "My friend's enemy is _my_ enemy, so if you think you can just—"

"Sora isn't my enemy," Axel said.

Genie frowned. "But you're in..." His eyes moved from Axel's Organization cloak, to his chakrams, to his face. A moment of confusion, and then his eyes popped open. "Sweet Allah in a hammock, you're the guy who saved his life," Genie said. "But I thought you..."

"And that was my _second_ death, yeah," Axel said. "So, if you'd kindly tell me about Sora..."

Genie hesitated a moment, clearly torn, but then glanced at the fiery cage around Aladdin. His face hardened and he shook his head. "No can do, Nobody. I don't know why you saved Sora but I've got a sneaking suspicion that you weren't very buddy-buddy with him before then. Besides, anyone who works with the Greek geek's got to be bad news." He summoned a fire extinguisher and aimed it at Axel. "Gimme a reason to think you aren't pure evil."

Axel scowled. "All right," he growled. "Here's one. I haven't set your precious _anti_-hero on fire. Yet."

And some anti-hero Aladdin was, Axel thought. He'd gone from street rat to the princess's fiancé, he was the idol of Agrabah, and it seemed the only people he didn't like were the outsiders he once would have sympathized with, outsiders like foreigners and Nobodies. Axel never stopped to consider that there was probably a good reason for Aladdin not to like him personally; envy was one of the few emotions Nobodies retained, and Axel was willing to let it burn in him. Jealousy didn't need a heart.

Genie looked at Aladdin and gasped. "Al!"

Axel's flames had slowly seeped into Aladdin's cage, and were edging closer to him. Aladdin had his arms and legs pulled as far from the flames as he could get, but the chains restricted his movements.

"Scram, Genie," Axel said flatly. He was tired of this act, of pretending have emotions in front of Genie when his heart was too far for him to hear it. "I don't think Aladdin can handle the heat as well as we can."

"You can't set the hostage on fire!" Genie said. "You might be PG-13 but Aladdin's from a G film. Think of the children!"

Axel was beyond the point of even wondering what Genie was talking about. "Then here's a bargain," Axel said. "You buzz off, and I turn the heat down. The longer you stay, the hotter it gets, and I don't think your friend can take much more."

"Hoo boy," Genie said, biting his lip and glancing nervously at Aladdin. He glanced back at Axel, and sighed. "All right, Tall, Dark, and Mysterious. I don't really have a choice. I've got your word that you won't hurt Aladdin?"

"Sure," Axel said, shrugging.

"Well... if you saved Sora..." Genie sighed. "Al? I'd, uh, better come back later. This could get iffy." Genie vanished. Axel waited a moment to make sure he had really left, and then let the fire burn down.

He turned to Aladdin and pointed at his face. "I'm Axel," he said sharply. "This is what my face really looks like, for your information." He didn't care now, but he knew that as soon as he rejoined Mechanicles and Soldier in the computer room and saw how blurry Aladdin's memory of him was, he'd get annoyed all over again. "Strongest Nobody still alive, proud traitor to the fallen Organization XIII, former member of the killed Desiderii Nox, and best friend to Sora's Nobody." He pulled aside reality and slipped into darkness. Aladdin watched carefully as Axel left, studying the portal to darkness, clearly trying to understand it; even when he was locked up like this he was thinking, trying to find a way out.

"I suggest you remember who I am," Axel said, and let reality fall shut.

There were too many people who forgot.

x

Mechanicles glanced up as Axel appeared in the computer room. He'd been watching the exchange through Aladdin's thoughts, but it was so _hard_ to keep track of what was going on. Especially when Aladdin himself was confused, stupid street rat. "Well?"

"Genie's gone." Axel paused long enough for Soldier to run across the room and climb into his arms. "I didn't do any actual damage, but there's no way Genie's getting past that barrier."

"You are sure of this?" Mechanicles grinned widely. "Perfect! At last, I have a flawless defense against Aladdin's stupid Genie! And it's a defense only one person can deactivate, so we won't have to worry about Aladdin's other little friends."

"I'd say that's a flaw." Axel smirked and leaned against one of the computers. "How will _you_ turn it off?"

"Details, details." Mechanicles waved one hand dismissively. "We can work that out later. For now, turn on the _main_ security system. I don't want any interruptions."

"You? Turning on a machine before it's been tested for every problem imaginable?" Axel melodramatically placed one hand to his forehead, and Soldier immediately copied him. "Why didn't anyone tell me the end of the world was so close?"

Axel was right. Before today, Mechanicles honestly couldn't picture himself starting up an invention for the first time without weeks of tests and adjustments. Had he really changed this much in the past three weeks?

"We don't have time for tests," Mechanicles said impatiently – trying to justify his own behavior. "Genie may not be able to reach Aladdin but he can reach the rest of my home. Quickly!"

"Fine, I'm on it," Axel said. Mechanicles saw Axel counting out the keys on the keyboard to find the proper one (he couldn't read Greek, Mechanicles had learned), and press it. The keyboard split in the middle and slid apart a couple of inches. Inside would be a groove Mechanicles had designed to fit Axel's chakram perfectly. Axel summoned a chakram, slid it into the groove, and something beneath the keyboard clicked. The exposed tips of the chakram momentarily glowed with fire, and then went out.

Axel pulled out his chakram and the keyboard slid close again. The fuel had been added to the generators, and with a quick command (the keyboard was still hot from the fire, Mechanicles noted), the security system was on and a solid box of Nobody fire should have encased Mechanicles's home. Between the self-sustaining properties of the magical fuel and the superior design of the security system's generators, Mechanicles should have an indestructible, infinite defense. He was very proud of his fusion of magic and technology.

"Good. Could you check outside to see if the generators are functioning properly?" Mechanicles asked. "I'm going to see what I can find out from Aladdin about the palace's security."

"You do that," Axel said dismissively. Mechanicles glanced up at him, wondering what was wrong, but Axel stepped into the darkness before he could ask.

Their success had put Mechanicles in a good mood, but apparently Axel wasn't as cheered. Then again, it wasn't a success for him. He hadn't found the boy he was looking for.

Still, that meant Axel would be staying in this world for a while longer, and as their security system clearly demonstrated, they made an excellent team. Perhaps Axel would choose to stay after all and help in the inevitable destruction of Agrabah.

Heartened by this, Mechanicles picked up the microphone. "So Aladdin, I hear there are some secret passages within the palace. What would you know about them?"

x

What happened next? Axel wondered. Aladdin didn't know anything about where Roxas had gone, Genie might as well have been a rock for all the information he'd provide, and Mechanicles was expecting Axel to stay until he found his next destination.

He stepped out of the darkness, leaving the portal open, long enough to give the wall of fire a cursory glance from the desert. It seemed to be working well enough. He stepped back into the darkness to return to the computer room.

He'd have to find a new destination soon. Soldier was eager to continue their journey and was starting to get in trouble. Axel was patient enough to wait here and see if Genie followed through with his threat to go to Sora for help, but Soldier was already stirring up trouble with the local Heartless and Nobodies. What if she went out into the desert with a band of Heartless and forgot to come back? How would Axel track her down? What was more important – his heart, or a chance to find his best friend? Axel wasn't a fool.

Besides, he just wasn't satisfied here. That didn't surprise him. A Nobody was never satisfied.

Axel pulled open reality to rejoin Mechanicles, and listen to the Greek's petty questions as he futilely dreamed for the destruction of Agrabah.

x

Iago glared at Abu. Abu glared back, arms crossed.

"No."

Abu's eyes narrowed even more, and he started to growl.

"No! We've only had it a few weeks. There's gotta be a better opportunity to use it."

Abu uncrossed his arms and crouched, ready to jump. Iago shifted on his perch uneasily. They both knew what the result would be if Abu decided to tackle Iago. He wouldn't be able to take off fast enough to avoid Abu, he would be at the monkey's mercy – and Abu had teeth _and_ opposable thumbs. Where was the princess when Iago needed her?

"All right, all right, you win!" Iago squawked. "We'll tell Mechanicles about the thing we found and hope he'll trade Aladdin for more information. It's a long shot but we can try. Happy?"

Abu nodded, chattering cheerfully.

"Okay. We'll go after sunset. Maybe we can catch him when he's sleeping and he won't be able to think straight. We can bring Genie along for protection."

Abu protested loudly.

"What?" Iago shouted. "Who cares if we look aggressive! We don't want to get killed." Iago thought a moment. "Let me rephrase that. _I_ don't want to get killed!" More protests from Abu.

It was impossible to talk reason into that monkey. "Fine! Can we at least bring Carpet?"

"Uh-uh." Abu shook his head.

Iago scowled. "In that case, we waltz up in the middle of the night, unarmed, with only a weak little promise to give Mechanicles info about the location of a machine he might not want, and we nicely ask him to give Aladdin back. That's our plan?" Abu nodded.

Iago sighed and took off. "If you need me, I'll be writing my will," he shouted.

Abu rolled his eyes.

xxxxx

Any reviews, concrit, flames, whatever are welcome, as is any speculation about what's going to happen next – I like hearing everyone's ideas. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter's going to be quite exciting. See you then!


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